What is subdomain takeover attack?

What is subdomain takeover attack?

Subdomain takeover attacks are a class of security issues where an attacker is able to seize control of an organization’s subdomain via cloud services like AWS or Azure. They commonly happen when web projects are ended but the subdomain DNS entries are not fully shut down.

How does a subdomain takeover work?

A subdomain takeover occurs when an attacker gains control over a subdomain of a target domain. Typically, this happens when the subdomain has a canonical name (CNAME) in the Domain Name System (DNS), but no host is providing content for it. If you have your own appliance (host) plugged into it, everything is fine.

Which is an example of a subdomain takeover?

Subdomain takeover is a process of registering a non-existing domain name to gain control over another domain. The most common scenario of this process follows: Domain name (e.g., sub.example.com) uses a CNAME record to another domain (e.g., sub.example.com CNAME anotherdomain.com).

Can a attacker take control of a subdomain?

However, attackers don’t need such a strong foothold in your system to cause harm. In some cases, a dangling CNAME record on one of your subdomains is all they need to take control of some (or all) of the content served by the subdomain in question. Such a security issue is known as a subdomain takeover. In this post, I will do the following:

Why is a dangling CNAME record a subdomain takeover?

In some cases, a dangling CNAME record on one of your subdomains is all they need to take control of some (or all) of the content served by the subdomain in question. Such a security issue is known as a subdomain takeover. In this post, I will do the following: explain why this type of security issue should be on your radar,

When is a NS record vulnerable to subdomain takeover?

NS subdomain takeover. The concept of subdomain takeover can be naturally extended to NS records: If the base domain of canonical domain name of at least one NS record is available for registration, the source domain name is vulnerable to subdomain takeover.