Information Disclosure
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
How It Works
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security. This happens through multiple channels: verbose error messages that display stack traces revealing internal paths and frameworks, improperly secured debug endpoints left active in production, and misconfigured servers that expose directory listings or version control artifacts like .git folders. APIs often leak excessive data in responses—returning full user objects when only a name is needed, or revealing system internals through metadata fields.
Attackers exploit these exposures systematically. They probe for common sensitive files (.env, config.php, backup archives), trigger error conditions to extract framework details, and analyze response timing or content differences to enumerate valid usernames or resources. Even subtle variations—like "invalid password" versus "user not found"—enable account enumeration. Exposed configuration files frequently contain database credentials, API keys, or internal service URLs that unlock further attack vectors.
The attack flow typically starts with passive reconnaissance: examining HTTP headers, JavaScript bundles, and public endpoints for version information and architecture clues. Active probing follows—testing predictable paths, manipulating parameters to trigger exceptions, and comparing responses across similar requests to identify information leakage patterns.
Impact
- Credential compromise: Exposed configuration files, hardcoded secrets in source code, or API keys enable direct authentication bypass
- Attack surface mapping: Stack traces, framework versions, and internal paths help attackers craft targeted exploits for known vulnerabilities
- Data breach: Direct exposure of user data, payment information, or proprietary business logic through oversharing APIs or accessible backups
- Privilege escalation pathway: Internal URLs, service discovery information, and architecture details facilitate lateral movement and SSRF attacks
- Compliance violations: GDPR, PCI-DSS, and HIPAA penalties for exposing regulated data through preventable disclosures
Real-World Examples
A major Git repository exposure affected thousands of websites when .git folders remained accessible on production servers, allowing attackers to reconstruct entire source code histories including deleted commits containing credentials. Tools like GitDumper automated mass exploitation of this misconfiguration.
Cloud storage misconfigurations have repeatedly exposed sensitive data when companies left S3 buckets or Azure Blob containers publicly readable. One incident exposed 150 million voter records because verbose API error messages revealed the storage URL structure, and no authentication was required.
Framework debug modes left enabled in production have caused numerous breaches. Django's DEBUG=True setting exposed complete stack traces with database queries and environment variables, while Laravel's debug pages revealed encryption keys through the APP_KEY variable in environment dumps.
Mitigation
- Generic error pages: Return uniform error messages to users; log detailed exceptions server-side only
- Disable debug modes: Enforce production configurations that suppress stack traces, verbose logging, and debug endpoints through deployment automation
- Access control audits: Restrict or remove development artifacts (
.git, backup files,phpinfo()) and internal endpoints before deployment - Response minimization: API responses should return only necessary fields; implement allowlists rather than blocklists for data exposure
- Security headers: Deploy
X-Content-Type-Options, remove server version banners, and disable directory indexing - Timing consistency: Ensure authentication and validation responses take uniform time regardless of input validity
Recent CVEs (68656)
Discourse is an open source platform for community discussion. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.2), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Microsoft Office Spoofing Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Exposure of Sensitive Information vulnerability could allow attackers to access sensitive data that should not be disclosed.
Outlook for Android Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.0), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity.
Sudo for Windows Spoofing Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.0). This Use After Free vulnerability could allow attackers to access freed memory to execute arbitrary code or crash the application.
Windows Network Address Translation (NAT) Denial of Service Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Out-of-bounds Read vulnerability could allow attackers to read data from memory outside the intended buffer boundaries.
Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
Windows Network Address Translation (NAT) Denial of Service Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Out-of-bounds Read vulnerability could allow attackers to read data from memory outside the intended buffer boundaries.
Windows Graphics Component Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. This Use After Free vulnerability could allow attackers to access freed memory to execute arbitrary code or crash the application.
Windows Mobile Broadband Driver Denial of Service Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Out-of-bounds Read vulnerability could allow attackers to read data from memory outside the intended buffer boundaries.
Windows Kernel-Mode Driver Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
NT OS Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.0).
Windows Storage Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
Windows Secure Channel Spoofing Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.4), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required.
Windows Kerberos Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required.
Windows Cryptographic Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.6).
Windows Mobile Broadband Driver Denial of Service Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Out-of-bounds Read vulnerability could allow attackers to read data from memory outside the intended buffer boundaries.
Windows Kernel-Mode Driver Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.0). This Use After Free vulnerability could allow attackers to access freed memory to execute arbitrary code or crash the application.
Windows Graphics Component Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Out-of-bounds Read vulnerability could allow attackers to read data from memory outside the intended buffer boundaries.
Remote Registry Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity.
Windows Print Spooler Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
Windows Secure Kernel Mode Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
Windows Resilient File System (ReFS) Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.0).
Windows Graphics Component Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. This Use After Free vulnerability could allow attackers to access freed memory to execute arbitrary code or crash the application.
Windows Graphics Component Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. This Out-of-bounds Read vulnerability could allow attackers to read data from memory outside the intended buffer boundaries.
Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. This Use of Uninitialized Resource vulnerability could allow attackers to access uninitialized memory causing crashes or information disclosure.
Windows Common Log File System Driver Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
Windows Resilient File System (ReFS) Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
Azure Monitor Agent Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
A vulnerability was found in the resteasy-netty4 library arising from improper handling of HTTP requests using smuggling techniques. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability was found in Quarkus CXF. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable. No vendor patch available.
A flaw was found in Event-Driven Automation (EDA) in Ansible Automation Platform (AAP), which lacks encryption of sensitive information. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A denial-of-service vulnerability exists in the Rockwell Automation PowerFlex® 600T. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.2), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Insecure permissions in Ivanti EPMM before 12.1.0.4 allow a local authenticated attacker to modify sensitive application components. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In JetBrains TeamCity before 2024.07.3 path traversal leading to information disclosure was possible via server backups. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In JetBrains TeamCity before 2024.07.3 password could be exposed via Sonar runner REST API. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An exposure of sensitive information to an unauthorized actor vulnerability [CWE-200] in FortiManager 7.4.2 and below, 7.2.5 and below, 7.0.12 and below allows a remote authenticated attacker. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
could cause exposure of credentials when attacker has access to application on network over http. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability has been identified in SINEC Security Monitor (All versions < V4.9.0). Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The web server of affected devices do not properly authenticate user request to the '/ClientArea/RuntimeInfoData.mwsl' endpoint. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability has been identified in Teamcenter Visualization V14.2 (All versions < V14.2.0.14), Teamcenter Visualization V14.3 (All versions < V14.3.0.12), Teamcenter Visualization V2312 (All. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability has been identified in Teamcenter Visualization V14.2 (All versions < V14.2.0.14), Teamcenter Visualization V14.3 (All versions < V14.3.0.12), Teamcenter Visualization V2312 (All. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability has been identified in Teamcenter Visualization V14.2 (All versions < V14.2.0.14), Teamcenter Visualization V14.3 (All versions < V14.3.0.12), Teamcenter Visualization V2312 (All. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability has been identified in Teamcenter Visualization V14.2 (All versions < V14.2.0.14), Teamcenter Visualization V14.3 (All versions < V14.3.0.12), Teamcenter Visualization V2312 (All. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
Improper input validation in SamsungVideoPlayer prior to versions 7.3.29.1 in Android 12, 7.3.36.1 in Android 13, and 7.3.41.230 in Android 14 allows local attackers to access video file of other. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Use of implicit intent for sensitive communication in translation혻in Samsung Internet prior to version 26.0.3.1 allows local attackers to get sensitive information. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Use of implicit intent for sensitive communication in Sound Assistant prior to version 6.1.0.9 allows local attackers to get sensitive information. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper access control in ActivityManager prior to SMR Oct-2024 Release 1 in select Android 12, 13 and SMR Sep-2024 Release 1 in select Android 14 allows local attackers to execute privileged. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In PHP versions 8.1.* before 8.1.30, 8.2.* before 8.2.24, 8.3.* before 8.3.12, when using PHP-FPM SAPI and it is configured to catch workers output through catch_workers_output = yes, it may be. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
In PHP versions 8.1.* before 8.1.30, 8.2.* before 8.2.24, 8.3.* before 8.3.12, HTTP_REDIRECT_STATUS variable is used to check whether or not CGI binary is being run by the HTTP server. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
In PHP versions 8.1.* before 8.1.30, 8.2.* before 8.2.24, 8.3.* before 8.3.12, erroneous parsing of multipart form data contained in an HTTP POST request could lead to legitimate data not being. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Fields which are in 'read only' state in Bank Statement Draft in Manage Bank Statements application, could be modified by MERGE method. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The SAP HANA Node.js client package versions from 2.0.0 before 2.21.31 is impacted by Prototype Pollution vulnerability allowing an attacker to add arbitrary properties to global object prototypes. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
in OpenHarmony v4.1.0 and prior versions allow a local attacker cause DOS through improper input. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
in OpenHarmony v4.1.0 and prior versions allow a local attacker cause DOS by memory leak. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
in OpenHarmony v4.1.0 and prior versions allow a local attacker cause information leak through out-of-bounds Read. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In some Solidigm DC Products, a defect in device overprovisioning may provide information disclosure to an attacker. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.1), this vulnerability is no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
PHPSpreadsheet is a pure PHP library for reading and writing spreadsheet files. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Improper resource management in firmware of some Solidigm DC Products may allow an attacker to potentially control the performance of the resource. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.0), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Meshtastic is an open source, off-grid, decentralized, mesh network built to run on affordable, low-power devices. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.4), this vulnerability is no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
PHPSpreadsheet is a pure PHP library for reading and writing spreadsheet files. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
BlueCMS 1.6 suffers from Arbitrary File Deletion via the file_name parameter in an /admin/database.php?act=del request. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
IoT Haat Smart Plug IH-IN-16A-S IH-IN-16A-S v5.16.1 suffers from Insufficient Session Expiration. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The E2EE password entropy generated by Rocket.Chat Mobile prior to version 4.5.1 is insufficient, allowing attackers to crack it if they have the appropriate time and resources. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Information disclosure while sending implicit broadcast containing APP launch information. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.1), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Information disclosure while parsing the BSS parameter change count or MLD capabilities fields of the ML IE. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.2), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Transient DOS when transmission of management frame sent by host is not successful and error status is received in the host. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Information disclosure while parsing the multiple MBSSID IEs from the beacon. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.2), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor vulnerability in Stylemix uListing ulisting.1.5. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In wlan driver, there is a possible out of bounds read due to improper input validation. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In vdec, there is a possible out of bounds read due to a missing bounds check. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.4), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In m4u, there is a possible out of bounds read due to a missing bounds check. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.4), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In m4u, there is a possible out of bounds read due to a missing bounds check. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.4), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In vdec, there is a possible out of bounds read due to a missing bounds check. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.4), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In vdec, there is a possible out of bounds read due to a missing bounds check. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.4), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
ZKteco - CWE 200 Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Diebold Nixdorf - CWE-427: Uncontrolled Search Path Element. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Diebold Nixdorf - CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion') vulnerability in Ex-Themes WP Timeline - Vertical and Horizontal timeline plugin. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion') vulnerability in abcapp ABCApp Creator abcapp-creator.1.2. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
The Rank Math SEO - AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection in all versions up to, and including, 1.0.228 via deserialization of untrusted. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.2), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. This Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code through malicious serialized objects.
Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor vulnerability in The Wikimedia Foundation Mediawiki - PageTriage allows Authentication Bypass.39.X before 1.39.9, from 1.41.X before 1.41.3,. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in the AbuseFilter extension for MediaWiki before 1.39.9, 1.40.x and 1.41.x before 1.41.3, and 1.42.x before 1.42.2. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
cookie is a basic HTTP cookie parser and serializer for HTTP servers. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In OpenStack Ironic before 21.4.4, 22.x and 23.x before 23.0.3, 23.x and 24.x before 24.1.3, and 25.x and 26.x before 26.1.0, there is a lack of checksum validation of supplied image_source URLs when. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
There is a local file inclusion vulnerability in Esri Portal for ArcGIS 11.2 and below that may allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to craft a URL that could potentially disclose sensitive. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability was found in Netadmin Software NetAdmin IAM up to 3.5 and classified as problematic. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
** UNSUPPORTED WHEN ASSIGNED ** This vulnerability exists in D3D Security IP Camera D8801 due to usage of weak authentication scheme of the HTTP header protocol where authorization tag contain a. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.7), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.