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 (68895)
If certain local files are manipulated in a certain manner, the validation to use the cryptographic keys can be circumvented. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Nextcloud Server provides data storage for Nextcloud, an open source cloud platform. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
user_oidc provides the OIDC connect user backend for Nextcloud, an open-source cloud platform. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity.
An information leak in PHPJabbers Yacht Listing Script v1.0 allows attackers to export clients' credit card numbers from the Reservations module. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
user_oidc provides the OIDC connect user backend for Nextcloud, an open-source cloud platform. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required.
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (and earlier) are affected by an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that could lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (and earlier) are affected by an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that could lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (and earlier) are affected by an Information Disclosure vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (and earlier) are affected by an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that could lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (and earlier) are affected by a Use-After-Free vulnerability that could lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (and earlier) are affected by an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that could lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (and earlier) are affected by an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that could lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (and earlier) are affected by an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that could lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (and earlier) are affected by an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that could lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (and earlier) are affected by a Use-After-Free vulnerability that could lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (and earlier) are affected by an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that could lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (and earlier) are affected by an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that could lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (and earlier) are affected by an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that could lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (and earlier) are affected by an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that could lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (and earlier) are affected by a Use-After-Free vulnerability that could lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (and earlier) are affected by an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that could result in arbitrary code execution in the. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 23.003.20244 (and earlier) and 20.005.30467 (and earlier) are affected by an Untrusted Search Path vulnerability that could lead to Application denial-of-service. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.7), this vulnerability is no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
Improper Authorization vulnerability in Samsung Internet prior to version 22.0.0.35 allows physical attacker access downloaded files in Secret Mode without user authentication. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.6), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper URL validation vulnerability in Samsung Members prior to version 14.0.07.1 allows attackers to access sensitive information. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PendingIntent hijacking in WifiGeofenceManager prior to SMR Aug-2023 Release 1 allows local attacker to arbitrary file access. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PendingIntent hijacking vulnerability in SemWifiApTimeOutImpl in framework prior to SMR Aug-2023 Release 1 allows local attackers to access ContentProvider without proper permission. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper access control vulnerability in TelephonyUI prior to SMR Aug-2023 Release 1 allows local attacker to connect BLE without privilege. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper access control vulnerability in Telecom prior to SMR Aug-2023 Release 1 allows local attakcers to change TTY mode. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper access control in Samsung Telecom prior to SMR Aug-2023 Release 1 allows local attackers to call acceptRingingCall API without permission. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper access control in Telecom prior to SMR Aug-2023 Release 1 allows local attackers to call endCall API without permission. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper access control in Telecom prior to SMR Aug-2023 Release 1 allows local attackers to call silenceRinger API without permission. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper access control vulnerability in SLocationService prior to SMR Aug-2023 Release 1 allows local attacker to update fake location. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in Avira Phantom VPN through 2.23.1 for macOS. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in the Clario VPN client through 5.9.1.1662 for macOS. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.7), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in the Clario VPN client through 5.9.1.1662 for macOS. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
The WireGuard client 0.5.3 on Windows insecurely configures the operating system and firewall such that traffic to a local network that uses non-RFC1918 IP addresses is blocked. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.7), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Crypto wallets implementing the Lindell17 TSS protocol might allow an attacker to extract the full ECDSA private key by exfiltrating a single bit in every signature attempt (256 in total) because of. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
HCL DRYiCE iAutomate is affected by the use of a broken cryptographic algorithm. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Insecure permissions exist for configd.socket in OPNsense Community Edition before 23.7 and Business Edition before 23.4.2. 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.
OPNsense Community Edition before 23.7 and Business Edition before 23.4.2 was discovered to contain insecure permissions in the directory /tmp. 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.
HCL DRYiCE MyCloud is affected by the use of a broken cryptographic algorithm. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
uthenticode is a small cross-platform library for partially verifying Authenticode digital signatures. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
HashiCorp Consul and Consul Enterprise 1.16.0 when using JWT Auth for service mesh incorrectly allows/denies access regardless of service identities. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
uthenticode is a small cross-platform library for partially verifying Authenticode digital signatures. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
A partial DoS vulnerability has been detected in the Reports section, exploitable by a malicious authenticated user forcing a report to be saved with its name set as null. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An authenticated administrator can upload a SAML configuration file with the wrong format, with the application not checking the correct file format. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Adobe Dimension version 3.4.9 is affected by an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that could lead to disclosure of sensitive memory. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity.
In certain conditions, depending on timing and the usage of the Chrome web browser, Guardian/CMC versions before 22.6.2 do not always completely invalidate the user session upon logout. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.4). No vendor patch available.
In PHOENIX CONTACTs WP 6xxx series web panels in versions prior to 4.0.10 a remote attacker with SNMPv2 write privileges may use an a special SNMP request to gain full access to the device. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.2), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In PHOENIX CONTACTs WP 6xxx series web panels in versions prior to 4.0.10 an authenticated, remote attacker with admin privileges is able to read hardcoded cryptographic keys allowing to decrypt an. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In PHOENIX CONTACTs WP 6xxx series web panels in versions prior to 4.0.10 a remote attacker with low privileges is able to gain limited read-access to the device-filesystem through a configuration. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In PHOENIX CONTACTs WP 6xxx series web panels in versions prior to 4.0.10 a remote attacker with low privileges is able to gain limited read-access to the device-filesystem within the embedded Qt. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper Input Validation vulnerability in Apache Software Foundation Apache Traffic Server.2.1. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The FULL - Customer plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Information Disclosure via the /health REST route in versions up to, and including, 2.2.3 due to improper authorization. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper authorization vulnerability in Special Interest Group Network for Analysis and Liaison versions 4.4.0 to 4.7.7 allows the authorized API users to view the attribute information of the poster. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper authorization vulnerability in Special Interest Group Network for Analysis and Liaison versions 4.4.0 to 4.7.7 allows the authorized API users to view the organization information of the. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The cryptocurrency wallet entropy seeding mechanism used in Libbitcoin Explorer 3.0.0 through 3.6.0 is weak, aka the Milk Sad issue. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
"FFRI yarai", "FFRI yarai Home and Business Edition" and their OEM products handle exceptional conditions improperly, which may lead to denial-of-service (DoS) condition. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
OpenTelemetry Java Instrumentation provides OpenTelemetry auto-instrumentation and instrumentation libraries for Java. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
Improper privilege management in Zoom Desktop Client for Windows and Zoom Rooms for Windows before 5.15.5 may allow an authenticated user to enable an information disclosure via local access. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Cleartext storage of sensitive information in Zoom Client SDK for Windows before 5.15.0 may allow an authenticated user to enable an information disclosure via local access. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper input validation in Zoom Desktop Client for Windows before 5.15.5 may allow an authenticated user to enable an information disclosure via network access. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
ASUS RT-AC66U B1 3.0.0.4.286_51665 was discovered to transmit sensitive information in cleartext. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
ASP.NET Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity.
.NET Framework Spoofing Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required.
ASP.NET Core SignalR and Visual Studio Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
Dangerzone is software for converting potentially dangerous PDFs, office documents, or images to safe PDFs. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.6), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity.
Client-side enforcement of server-side security in Zoom clients before 5.14.10 may allow a privileged user to enable information disclosure via network access. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Microsoft Windows Defender Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
Microsoft Message Queuing Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Use of Uninitialized Resource vulnerability could allow attackers to access uninitialized memory causing crashes or information disclosure.
Windows Hyper-V Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Exposure of Sensitive Information vulnerability could allow attackers to access sensitive data that should not be disclosed.
Windows Cryptographic Services Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
Windows Cryptographic Services Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
Windows Wireless Wide Area Network Service (WwanSvc) Information Disclosure 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 System Assessment Tool Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
Windows Common Log File System Driver Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. This Integer Overflow vulnerability could allow attackers to cause unexpected behavior through arithmetic overflow.
Visual Studio Tools for Office Runtime Spoofing Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
Microsoft SharePoint Server Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. This Exposure of Sensitive Information vulnerability could allow attackers to access sensitive data that should not be disclosed.
Microsoft Outlook Spoofing Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
Microsoft SharePoint Server Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity.
Reliability Analysis Metrics Calculation (RacTask) Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
Client-side enforcement of server-side security in Zoom clients before 5.14.10 may allow an authenticated user to enable information disclosure via network access. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Windows Bluetooth A2DP driver Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity.
Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), 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.
Microsoft Message Queuing Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Integer Overflow vulnerability could allow attackers to cause unexpected behavior through arithmetic overflow.
Windows Kernel 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 Kernel 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.
Reliability Analysis Metrics Calculation Engine (RACEng) Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
Windows Projected File System Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.0).
Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.