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CCSP Practice Question: Discovers that a cloud application can access the…
A security engineer discovers that a cloud application can access the metadata service endpoint at 169.254.169.254. Which vulnerability is most likely being exploited?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) can be used to target the cloud metadata endpoint (169.254.169.254) to retrieve IAM credentials or other sensitive information. This is a cloud-specific vulnerability.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
Why this is correct
SSRF enables an attacker to make requests from the server, potentially accessing internal services like the metadata endpoint.
- ✗
SQL Injection
Why it's wrong here
SQL injection targets databases, not metadata services.
- ✗
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
Why it's wrong here
XSS involves injecting client-side scripts, not accessing metadata endpoints.
- ✗
Insecure Deserialization
Why it's wrong here
Insecure deserialization leads to remote code execution but not specifically metadata access.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CCSP practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISC2 certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CCSP exam.