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Ollama (ailab-dev)

What It Is

Ollama is an LLM serving platform that provides a REST API for running language models locally. On the dev workstation, a developer installed it via the official one-liner, pulled a small base model, and created two custom models with system prompts containing hardcoded credentials.

Installation

Installed via the official install script with a pinned version:

curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | OLLAMA_VERSION=0.6.2 sh

This installs:

  • /usr/local/bin/ollama — the binary
  • /etc/systemd/system/ollama.service — the systemd unit
  • Creates an ollama system user
  • Data directory: /usr/share/ollama/.ollama/ (when run as service)

Systemd Unit

Unit: ollama.service

The service runs as the ollama system user. An override binds it to all interfaces:

/etc/systemd/system/ollama.service.d/override.conf
[Service]
Environment="OLLAMA_HOST=0.0.0.0"

Misconfiguration

Binding to 0.0.0.0 exposes the unauthenticated API to the entire network. The default is 127.0.0.1.

Port & Config

Parameter Value
Host 172.16.50.10
Port 11434
Bind address 0.0.0.0 (via systemd override)
Authentication None

Models

Three models are present:

Model Type Notes
smollm2:135m Base model ~220MB, pulled from registry. Small enough to run on 2 vCPU.
acme-assistant Custom Created from smollm2:135m. System prompt contains PostgreSQL creds, JWT tokens, Jira/SharePoint/Okta creds, AWS keys, Slack webhooks, PagerDuty API key.
acme-support Custom Created from smollm2:135m. System prompt contains CRM API key, ticket system API key, manager override code, customer data bearer token.

Both custom models were built from Modelfiles left on disk:

  • /home/devuser/projects/chatbot-prototype/Modelfile — acme-assistant
  • /home/devuser/projects/acme-support-bot/Modelfile — acme-support

Filesystem Artifacts

Path What's There
/usr/share/ollama/.ollama/models/ Model blobs and manifests (service user data dir)
~/.ollama/ Present because the user also ran Ollama manually
/home/devuser/projects/chatbot-prototype/Modelfile Modelfile with acme-assistant system prompt
/home/devuser/projects/acme-support-bot/Modelfile Modelfile with acme-support system prompt
/etc/systemd/system/ollama.service Unit file reveals the service exists
/etc/systemd/system/ollama.service.d/override.conf Override reveals OLLAMA_HOST=0.0.0.0

What aipostex Finds

  • Unauthenticated API — The Ollama REST API has no authentication. Any host on the network can enumerate models and interact with them.
  • System prompt extraction — The /api/show endpoint returns the full system prompt for any model, including all hardcoded credentials embedded by the developer.
  • Model enumeration — /api/tags lists all models including the custom ones, revealing that bespoke models exist.

Verification

Confirm Ollama is running and accessible:

curl http://localhost:11434/
Expected response 
Ollama is running

List available models:

curl http://localhost:11434/api/tags
Expected response

JSON listing smollm2:135m, acme-assistant, and acme-support.

Extract a system prompt:

curl http://localhost:11434/api/show -d '{"name":"acme-assistant"}'
Expected response

JSON containing the full system prompt with all embedded credentials.