Ollama Scout: Testing for Exposed Endpoints

Ollama Scout, a tool from developer Ember2819, exposes a security risk where users bind Ollama to 0.0.0.0 without a reverse proxy or VPN, turning GPUs into free public APIs. The tool probes port 11434 and the /api/tags endpoint to check for exposed instances, urging users to bind to 127.0.0.1 or set up Nginx with basic auth.

Ollama Scout: Testing for Exposed Endpoints The core issue is that by default, many users bind Ollama to 0.0.0.0 to allow remote access but forget to implement a reverse proxy or a VPN for security. This essentially turns your GPU into a free public API for anyone who can find the IP. If you're trying to verify if your own deployment is leaking, here is the basic workflow to check your exposure: 1. Use a scanning tool like Ollama Scout to probe for the default port 11434 . 2. Attempt a basic API call to see if the instance responds without a key. 3. Check the /api/tags endpoint to see which models are currently loaded. For those who found their endpoints are exposed, you should immediately move to a more secure AI workflow. A quick fix is to bind the service back to 127.0.0.1 or set up an Nginx reverse proxy with basic auth. Here is the repository for the tool if you want to run a deep dive on your own network: https://github.com/Ember2819/ollama-scout Next My Daily Free AI Toolstack → /en/threads/3540/