Skip to main content

Diffbot API Key

Diffbot API Keys are used to authenticate requests to Diffbot's suite of AI-driven data extraction and analysis services. These keys allow applications to access Diffbot's APIs, which can extract structured data from web pages, analyze content, and provide insights. Exposure of a Diffbot API Key is a security concern because it can lead to unauthorized access to the service, potentially resulting in data misuse or financial loss due to unauthorized API usage.

How Does It Look​

Diffbot API Keys can appear in various contexts, such as:

  • Environment variables

    export DIFFBOT_API_KEY="dbf1234567890abcdef1234567890ab"

  • Configuration files (JSON)

    {
      "diffbot": {
        "apiKey": "dbf1234567890abcdef1234567890ab"
      }
    }

  • Code snippets

    diffbot_api_key = "dbf1234567890abcdef1234567890ab"

  • Connection strings

    https://api.diffbot.com/v3/analyze?token=dbf1234567890abcdef1234567890ab&url=http://example.com

Severity​

  • 🟠 High

The severity of exposing a Diffbot API Key is high because it grants access to Diffbot's data extraction and analysis services. Unauthorized use of the API can lead to excessive charges on the account and potential data breaches if sensitive information is extracted without consent. The blast radius includes financial implications and potential data privacy issues.

What Can an Attacker Do?​

With immediate access to a Diffbot API Key, an attacker can perform several actions:

  • Extract data from web pages (if the API key has access to the Analyze API)
  • Access structured data (if the key is used with the Crawlbot or other data extraction APIs)
  • Incur financial charges (if the account is billed per API request and usage is not monitored)
  • Potentially access sensitive information (if the API is used to extract personal or proprietary data)

An attacker could also use the API key to perform lateral movements by integrating extracted data into other malicious activities or selling the data on illicit markets.

Real-World Impact​

The exposure of a Diffbot API Key poses significant business risks:

Unauthorized access to the API can lead to:

  • Data Exposure: Extraction of sensitive or proprietary data (if the API key is used for data extraction on sensitive sites)
  • Financial Loss: Increased costs due to unauthorized API usage (if the account is charged per request)
  • Operational Disruption: Overuse of API limits, affecting legitimate application functionality (if API rate limits are exceeded)
  • Reputational Damage: Loss of trust if sensitive data is exposed or misused

In worst-case scenarios, the exposure could lead to cascading effects, such as legal implications if data privacy laws are violated due to unauthorized data extraction.

Prerequisites for Exploitation​

To exploit a Diffbot API Key, an attacker needs:

  • Network access: Ability to send requests to Diffbot's API endpoints
  • API endpoint knowledge: Understanding of Diffbot's API structure and endpoints
  • No rate limits: Exploitation is easier if the account does not enforce strict rate limits

How to Verify If It's Active​

To verify if a Diffbot API Key is active, use the following command:

curl -X GET "https://api.diffbot.com/v3/analyze?token=[API_KEY]&url=http://example.com"

Valid credential response: A successful response will return structured data extracted from the specified URL.

Invalid/expired credential response: An error message indicating invalid credentials or access denied.

Detection Patterns​

Common Variable Names:

  • DIFFBOT_API_KEY
  • DIFFBOT_TOKEN
  • API_KEY
  • DIFFBOT_KEY
  • DIFFBOT_SECRET
  • DIFFBOT_ACCESS_TOKEN

File Locations:

  • .env
  • config.json
  • settings.yaml
  • credentials.txt
  • appsettings.json

Regex Pattern:

(?i)(diffbot[_-]?api[_-]?key|token|key|secret)[\s]*[:=][\s]*['"]?[a-z0-9]{32}['"]?

Remediation Steps​

  1. Revoke immediately - Go to Diffbot's developer portal and revoke the compromised API key.
  2. Audit access logs - Review Diffbot API usage logs for unauthorized requests during the exposure window.
  3. Assess blast radius - Identify all systems, applications, and environments that used the exposed API key.
  4. Rotate credential - Generate a new API key in the Diffbot developer portal with least-privilege permissions.
  5. Update dependent systems - Deploy the new API key to all applications and update CI/CD pipelines securely.
  6. Harden access controls - Enable IP allowlisting in Diffbot settings and enforce API rate limits.
  7. Implement secrets management - Migrate API keys to a secrets manager (HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager) to prevent hardcoding.
  8. Add detection controls - Set up pre-commit hooks and repository scanning to catch API key leaks before they reach production.

Credential exposures often go undetected for extended periods, increasing the window for exploitation. As a long-term strategy, plan to establish an internal process or engage an external vendor for continuous external exposure monitoring. This helps identify leaked secrets across public repositories, paste sites, dark web forums, and other external sources before attackers can leverage them. Proactive detection and rapid response are essential to minimizing the impact of credential leaks.

References​