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Stability AI API Key

Stability AI API keys are credentials used to authenticate requests to Stability AI's services, which provide access to advanced machine learning models and AI capabilities. These keys are essential for developers and organizations to integrate Stability AI's functionalities into their applications. Exposure of these keys is a significant security concern as it can lead to unauthorized access to the services, resulting in potential misuse or abuse of the AI resources.

How Does It Look​

API keys can be found in various contexts, such as:

  • Environment variables:

    export STABILITY_AI_API_KEY="sk-REDACTED"

  • Configuration files (JSON):

    {
      "stabilityAI": {
        "apiKey": "sk-REDACTED"
      }
    }

  • Code snippets:

    import stability_sdk

    client = stability_sdk.Client(api_key="sk-REDACTED")

  • Connection strings:

    stability-ai://api_key:sk-REDACTED@api.stability.ai

Severity​

  • 🟠 High

The exposure of a Stability AI API key is considered high severity because it grants access to powerful AI models and services. Unauthorized use can lead to excessive resource consumption, potential data leakage, and financial costs due to unmonitored usage. The blast radius includes any application or service that relies on the exposed key for AI functionalities.

What Can an Attacker Do?​

With immediate access to a Stability AI API key, an attacker can exploit the AI services without the owner's consent.

Key actions an attacker can perform:

  • Consume resources: Run extensive AI model computations (if the key has access to compute resources)
  • Access sensitive data: Retrieve data processed by AI models (if the key has data access permissions)
  • Generate unauthorized outputs: Use AI models to produce outputs that could be misused (if the key allows model execution)
  • Incur financial costs: Increase billing by consuming paid resources (if the account is linked to a billing plan)

An attacker could potentially escalate their access by leveraging the AI services to gather more information or perform lateral movements within the compromised environment.

Real-World Impact​

The exposure of a Stability AI API key poses significant business risks, including:

Primary impact includes unauthorized access to AI services.

Potential consequences include:

  • Data Exposure: Sensitive data processed by AI models (if the credential has read access to sensitive data)
  • Financial Loss: Increased billing due to unauthorized resource usage (if billing/resource creation is permitted)
  • Operational Disruption: Overuse of AI resources leading to service degradation (if the attacker has extensive usage permissions)
  • Reputational Damage: Loss of trust if AI services are misused for malicious purposes

In the worst-case scenario, the exposure could lead to cascading effects where the attacker gains further access to interconnected systems, amplifying the damage.

Prerequisites for Exploitation​

To exploit an exposed Stability AI API key, an attacker needs:

  • Network access: Ability to send requests to Stability AI's API endpoints
  • Additional context: Knowledge of specific API endpoints and usage patterns
  • Rate limits: Awareness of any rate limits or usage restrictions that might be in place

How to Verify If It's Active​

To verify if a Stability AI API key is active, use the following command:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer [API_KEY]" https://api.stability.ai/v1/models

Valid credential response: A list of available AI models and their details.

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

Detection Patterns​

Common Variable Names:

  • STABILITY_AI_API_KEY
  • STABILITY_API_KEY
  • AI_API_KEY
  • STABILITY_KEY
  • STABILITY_SECRET
  • API_KEY

File Locations:

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

Regex Pattern:

sk-[a-zA-Z0-9]{32}

Remediation Steps​

  1. Revoke immediately - Go to Stability AI's dashboard and revoke the compromised API key.
  2. Audit access logs - Review Stability AI usage logs for unauthorized requests or unusual activity during the exposure window.
  3. Assess blast radius - Identify all systems, applications, and environments that used the exposed credential.
  4. Rotate credential - Generate a new API key in Stability AI's dashboard 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 Stability AI settings and require secure 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​