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RabbitMQ Credentials

RabbitMQ is a widely-used open-source message broker that facilitates communication between distributed systems. RabbitMQ credentials are used to authenticate and authorize access to RabbitMQ servers, allowing users to send and receive messages. Exposure of these credentials can lead to unauthorized access, potentially compromising the integrity and confidentiality of the data being transmitted through the message broker.

How Does It Look​

RabbitMQ credentials can appear in various contexts, such as:

  • Environment variables

    export RABBITMQ_USERNAME="user123"
    export RABBITMQ_PASSWORD="p@ssw0rd!"

  • Configuration files (YAML)

    rabbitmq:
      username: "user123"
      password: "p@ssw0rd!"

  • Code snippets

    import pika

    credentials = pika.PlainCredentials('user123', 'p@ssw0rd!')
    connection = pika.BlockingConnection(pika.ConnectionParameters('localhost', credentials=credentials))

  • Connection strings

    amqp://user123:p@ssw0rd!@localhost:5672/

Severity​

  • 🔴 Critical

The severity of exposed RabbitMQ credentials is critical because they provide direct access to the message broker. An attacker with these credentials can intercept, modify, or delete messages, potentially disrupting communication between services and leading to data breaches. The blast radius includes all systems relying on RabbitMQ for message passing.

What Can an Attacker Do?​

With immediate access to RabbitMQ, an attacker can perform several malicious actions:

  • Intercept messages: Capture sensitive data being transmitted (if the credential has read permissions).
  • Delete or modify messages: Disrupt service operations by altering or removing messages (if write access is enabled).
  • Inject malicious messages: Send unauthorized messages to services, potentially causing them to execute harmful actions (if publish permissions are granted).
  • Access management interfaces: Change configurations or user permissions (if admin access is available).

Beyond these immediate capabilities, an attacker could use the compromised credentials to escalate privileges within the network or move laterally to other systems, especially if RabbitMQ is integrated with other critical infrastructure components.

Real-World Impact​

The exposure of RabbitMQ credentials poses significant business risks:

  • Data Exposure: Sensitive information in messages could be accessed (if the credential has read access to message queues).
  • Financial Loss: Service disruptions could lead to financial penalties or lost revenue (if message flow is critical to operations).
  • Operational Disruption: Critical services relying on RabbitMQ could fail (if the attacker deletes or modifies messages).
  • Reputational Damage: Trust in the organization's ability to secure communications could be eroded.

In the worst-case scenario, an attacker could gain control over the entire messaging infrastructure, leading to widespread service outages and data breaches.

Prerequisites for Exploitation​

To exploit exposed RabbitMQ credentials, an attacker needs:

  • Network access: Ability to connect to the RabbitMQ server.
  • RabbitMQ server endpoint: Knowledge of the server's address and port.
  • No IP restrictions: Lack of IP allowlisting or network segmentation.
  • No rate limiting: Absence of throttling mechanisms to prevent abuse.

How to Verify If It's Active​

To verify if RabbitMQ credentials are active, use the following command:

rabbitmqctl authenticate_user [USERNAME] [PASSWORD]

Valid credential response:

  • Successful authentication message indicating the credentials are valid.

Invalid/expired credential response:

  • Authentication failure message indicating the credentials are invalid or expired.

Detection Patterns​

Common Variable Names:

  • RABBITMQ_USERNAME
  • RABBITMQ_PASSWORD
  • MQ_USER
  • MQ_PASS
  • AMQP_USER
  • AMQP_PASS

File Locations:

  • config/rabbitmq.conf
  • .env
  • settings.yaml
  • application.properties

Regex Pattern:

(rabbitmq|amqp)_?(user(name)?|pass(word)?)\s*[:=]\s*["']?[\w@!#$%^&*()_+-=]+["']?

Remediation Steps​

  1. Revoke immediately - Go to RabbitMQ Management UI > Admin > Users and delete the compromised user.
  2. Audit access logs - Review RabbitMQ logs for unauthorized access or message activity during the exposure window.
  3. Assess blast radius - Identify all systems, applications, and environments that used the exposed credential.
  4. Rotate credential - Create a new RabbitMQ user with least-privilege permissions.
  5. Update dependent systems - Deploy the new credential to all applications and update CI/CD pipelines securely.
  6. Harden access controls - Enable IP allowlisting in RabbitMQ and require TLS connections.
  7. Implement secrets management - Migrate credentials 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 credential 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​