The command curl -X PUT "http://169.254.169" is essential for generating a Session Token required to access Amazon Web Services (AWS) Instance Metadata Service Version 2 (IMDSv2). This method secures EC2 instance metadata access by mitigating Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerabilities, requiring a token rather than allowing direct, unauthenticated access.
curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/api/token curl-url-http-3A-2F-2F169.254.169.254-2Flatest-2Fapi-2Ftoken
The /latest/api/token endpoint is part of the AWS Instance Metadata Service. When you make a request to this endpoint, you are essentially asking for a token that can be used to access other metadata about the instance. The command curl -X PUT "http://169
The IP address is a link-local address used by AWS to provide the Instance Metadata Service (IMDS) . Every EC2 instance can query this address to retrieve information about itself—such as its instance ID, public IP, IAM role credentials, and security groups—without needing to call the AWS API externally. The Evolution: From IMDSv1 to IMDSv2 When you make a request to this endpoint,