Expert finds Starbucks API Key exposed online

Developers at Starbucks left exposed an API key that could be used by an attacker to access internal systems and manipulate the list of authorized users.

The development team at Starbucks left exposed an API key that could be used by an attacker to access company internal systems and manipulate the list of authorized users.

The issue was discovered by the security expert Vinoth Kumar, he found the key in a public GitHub repository.

Kumar reported the flaw through the HackerOne vulnerability bug bounty platform.

The issue was rated as ‘critical’ bacause the key left exposed online allowed attackers to access Starbucks JumpCloud API.

This issue could allow attackers to execute commands on systems, add/remove users which has access to internal systems, and potentially AWS account takeover.

JumpCloud is an Active Directory management platform that provides user management, web app single sign-on (SSO) access control, and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) service.

“vinothkumar discovered a publicly available Github repository containing a Starbucks JumpCloud API Key which provided access to internal system information.” reported HackerOne.

“While going through Github search I discovered a public repository which contains Jumbcloud API Key of Starbucks.” wrote the expert.

“Repo: https://github.com/██████████/Project.
File: https://github.com/████/Project/blob/0d56bb910923da2fbee95971778923f734a25f68/getSystemUsers.go“”

Kumar reported the issue on October 17, it was fixed on October 21 by removing the API key and revoking it, and on November 4 Starbucks acknowledged the vulnerability.

“Thank you for your patience! We have determined that this report demonstrates “significant information disclosure” and is therefore eligible for a bounty.” replied Starbucks.”At this time, we are satisfied with the remediation of the issue and are ready to move to closure. Thank you again for the report! We hope to see more submissions from you in the future.”

Kumar also provided proof-of-concept (PoC) code for the issue showing how to list systems and users, take control of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) account, execute commands on systems, and add or remove users with access to the internal systems.

The expert received a $4,000 bounty for reporting the flaw, the maximum reward for critical vulnerabilities paid by Starbucks.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – Starbucks, hacking)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.