GET /api/Image?url=https://example.com/image.png HTTP/1.1 The server code (simplified) looks like:
The challenge is solved when the student successfully extracts encryptionkey.txt . The OWASP Juice Shop SSRF challenge provides a realistic, hands-on example of how an innocent-looking image fetch endpoint can become a gateway to internal resources. By exploiting it, attackers can read local files, scan internal networks, and steal cloud credentials. Mitigation requires strict allowlisting, network controls, and never trusting user-supplied URLs. owasp juice shop ssrf
In Juice Shop, the impact is deliberately limited to reading a single file, but in real apps, SSRF often leads to complete internal network compromise. 6.1 Allowlist-Based Input Validation const ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['images.trusted.com', 'cdn.example.com']; const urlObj = new URL(userUrl); if (!ALLOWED_HOSTS.includes(urlObj.hostname)) return res.status(403).send('Host not allowed'); GET /api/Image