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 (68717)
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: fix adding block group to a reclaim list and the unused list during reclaim There is a potential parallel list adding for. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
The pmpro-member-directory WordPress plugin before 1.2.6 does not prevent users with at least the contributor role from leaking other users' sensitive information, including password hashes via an. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
The pmpro-membership-maps WordPress plugin before 0.7 does not prevent users with at least the contributor role from leaking sensitive information about users with a membership on the site. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A logic issue was addressed with improved checks. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A logic issue was addressed with improved checks. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A logic issue was addressed with improved checks. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with improved checks. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with improved checks. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.6), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with improved checks. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with improved checks. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with improved checks. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An access issue was addressed with additional sandbox restrictions. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
This issue was addressed by restricting options offered on a locked device. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.6), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A lock screen issue was addressed with improved state management. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.6), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with improved checks. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A logic issue was addressed with improved checks. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read issue was addressed with improved input validation. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with improved checks. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A type confusion issue was addressed with improved checks. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An input validation issue was addressed with improved input validation. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read issue was addressed with improved input validation. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
This issue was addressed with improved redaction of sensitive information. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A privacy issue was addressed with improved private data redaction for log entries. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
This issue was addressed with improved data protection. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
This issue was addressed by removing the vulnerable code. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds access issue was addressed with improved bounds checking. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A type confusion issue was addressed with improved memory handling. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved bounds checking. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved bounds checking. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A downgrade issue was addressed with additional code-signing restrictions. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A path handling issue was addressed with improved validation. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A logic issue was addressed with improved restrictions. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
This issue was addressed with a new entitlement. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A permissions issue was addressed with additional restrictions. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.4), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A permissions issue was addressed with additional restrictions. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.4), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A privacy issue was addressed with improved private data redaction for log entries. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with improved memory handling. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.1), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
This issue was addressed with improved validation of symlinks. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An information disclosure issue was addressed with improved private data redaction for log entries. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A race condition was addressed with improved locking. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
A privacy issue was addressed with improved private data redaction for log entries. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A logic issue was addressed with improved state management. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Honeywell PC42t, PC42tp, and PC42d Printers, T10.19.020016 to T10.20.060398, contain a cross-site scripting vulnerability. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in Italtel i-MCS NFV 12.1.0-20211215. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: ecdh - explicitly zeroize private_key private_key is overwritten with the key parameter passed in by the caller (if. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ALSA: emux: improve patch ioctl data validation In load_data(), make the validation of and skipping over the main info block match. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86: stop playing stack games in profile_pc() The 'profile_pc()' function is used for timer-based profiling, which isn't really all. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. This Use of Uninitialized Resource vulnerability could allow attackers to access uninitialized memory causing crashes or information disclosure.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: serial: 8250_omap: Implementation of Errata i2310 As per Errata i2310[0], Erroneous timeout can be triggered, if this Erroneous. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: gpio: davinci: Validate the obtained number of IRQs Value of pdata->gpio_unbanked is taken from Device Tree. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: pinctrl: fix deadlock in create_pinctrl() when handling -EPROBE_DEFER In create_pinctrl(), pinctrl_maps_mutex is acquired before. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/panel: ilitek-ili9881c: Fix warning with GPIO controllers that sleep The ilitek-ili9881c controls the reset GPIO using the. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ftruncate: pass a signed offset The old ftruncate() syscall, using the 32-bit off_t misses a sign extension when called in compat. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nfsd: initialise nfsd_info.mutex early. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: can: j1939: Initialize unused data in j1939_send_one() syzbot reported kernel-infoleak in raw_recvmsg() [1]. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. This Use of Uninitialized Resource vulnerability could allow attackers to access uninitialized memory causing crashes or information disclosure.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Fix remap of arena. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), 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.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mlxsw: spectrum_buffers: Fix memory corruptions on Spectrum-4 systems The following two shared buffer operations make use of the. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), 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.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ionic: use dev_consume_skb_any outside of napi If we're not in a NAPI softirq context, we need to be careful about how we call. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: nf_tables: fully validate NFT_DATA_VALUE on store to data registers register store validation for NFT_DATA_VALUE is. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. This Memory Leak vulnerability could allow attackers to exhaust available memory leading to denial of service.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Take return from set_memory_ro() into account with bpf_prog_lock_ro() set_memory_ro() can fail, leaving memory unprotected. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Take return from set_memory_rox() into account with bpf_jit_binary_lock_ro() set_memory_rox() can fail, leaving memory. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Mark bpf prog stack with kmsan_unposion_memory in interpreter mode syzbot reported uninit memory usages during. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. This Use of Uninitialized Resource vulnerability could allow attackers to access uninitialized memory causing crashes or information disclosure.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: usb: atm: cxacru: fix endpoint checking in cxacru_bind() Syzbot is still reporting quite an old issue [1] that occurs due to. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: PCI/MSI: Fix UAF in msi_capability_init KFENCE reports the following UAF: BUG: KFENCE: use-after-free read in. 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.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/fbdev-dma: Only set smem_start is enable per module option Only export struct fb_info.fix.smem_start if that is required by the. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/i915/gt: Fix potential UAF by revoke of fence registers CI has been sporadically reporting the following issue triggered by. 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.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ata: libata-core: Fix double free on error If e.g. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bcachefs: Fix sb_field_downgrade validation - bch2_sb_downgrade_validate() wasn't checking for a downgrade entry extending past the. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nvme-fabrics: use reserved tag for reg read/write command In some scenarios, if too many commands are issued by nvme command in the. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ila: block BH in ila_output() As explained in commit 1378817486d6 ("tipc: block BH before using dst_cache"), net/core/dst_cache.c. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: io_uring: fix possible deadlock in io_register_iowq_max_workers() The io_register_iowq_max_workers() function calls. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nvmet: always initialize cqe.result The spec doesn't mandate that the first two double words (aka results) for the command queue. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: qgroup: fix quota root leak after quota disable failure If during the quota disable we fail when cleaning the quota tree or. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. This Memory Leak vulnerability could allow attackers to exhaust available memory leading to denial of service.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: NFSv4: Fix memory leak in nfs4_set_security_label We leak nfs_fattr and nfs4_label every time we set a security xattr. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cachefiles: Set object to close if ondemand_id < 0 in copen If copen is maliciously called in the user mode, it may delete the. 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.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nvme: avoid double free special payload If a discard request needs to be retried, and that retry may fail before a new special. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: cfg80211: wext: add extra SIOCSIWSCAN data check In 'cfg80211_wext_siwscan()', add extra check whether number of channels. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: PPC: Book3S HV: Prevent UAF in kvm_spapr_tce_attach_iommu_group() Al reported a possible use-after-free (UAF) in. 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.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ASoC: topology: Fix references to freed memory Most users after parsing a topology file, release memory used by it, so having. 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.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: s390/sclp: Fix sclp_init() cleanup on failure If sclp_init() fails it only partially cleans up: if there are multiple failing calls. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ibmvnic: Add tx check to prevent skb leak Below is a summary of how the driver stores a reference to an skb during transmit:. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. This Memory Leak vulnerability could allow attackers to exhaust available memory leading to denial of service.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc/pseries: Whitelist dtl slub object for copying to userspace Reading the dispatch trace log from. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Bluetooth: hci_core: cancel all works upon hci_unregister_dev() syzbot is reporting that calling hci_release_dev() from. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bluetooth/l2cap: sync sock recv cb and release The problem occurs between the system call to close the sock and hci_rx_work, where. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: hfsplus: fix uninit-value in copy_name [syzbot reported] BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in sized_strscpy+0xc4/0x160. 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.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: firmware: cs_dsp: Use strnlen() on name fields in V1 wmfw files Use strnlen() instead of strlen() on the algorithm and coefficient. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cachefiles: wait for ondemand_object_worker to finish when dropping object When queuing ondemand_object_worker() to re-open the. 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.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cachefiles: cyclic allocation of msg_id to avoid reuse Reusing the msg_id after a maliciously completed reopen request may cause a. 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.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: filelock: fix potential use-after-free in posix_lock_inode Light Hsieh reported a KASAN UAF warning in trace_posix_lock_inode(). 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.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: i40e: Fix XDP program unloading while removing the driver The commit 6533e558c650 ("i40e: Fix reset path while removing the. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.