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 (68983)
An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel through 6.0.9. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.4), this vulnerability is no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel through 6.0.9. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.7). No vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel through 6.0.9. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.0).
An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel through 6.0.9. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.0). No vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel through 6.0.9. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.0). No vendor patch available.
Insufficiently Protected Credentials vulnerability in Mitsubishi Electric Corporation GX Works3 versions 1.015R and later allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to disclose sensitive information. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information in Memory vulnerability in Mitsubishi Electric Corporation GX Works3 versions 1.015R and later, GX Works2 all versions and GX Developer versions 8.40S and. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key vulnerability in Mitsubishi Electric GX Works3 versions from 1.000A to 1.095Z, and Motion Control Setting(GX Works3 related software) versions from 1.000A to. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key vulnerability in Mitsubishi Electric GX Works3 versions from 1.000A to 1.090U, GT Designer3 Version1 (GOT2000) versions from 1.122C to 1.290C, Motion Control. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key vulnerability in Mitsubishi Electric GX Works3 versions from 1.000A and later allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to disclose sensitive information. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key vulnerability in Mitsubishi Electric GX Works3 versions from 1.000A and later allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to disclose sensitive information. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information vulnerability in Mitsubishi Electric GX Works3 versions from 1.000A to 1.087R and Motion Control Setting(GX Works3 related software) versions from 1.000A to. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts in GitHub repository wger-project/wger prior to 2.2. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
When using tasks to read config files, there is a risk of database password disclosure. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Dangerous method exposed which can lead to RCE in qmpass/leadshop v1.4.15 allows an attacker to control the target host by calling any function in leadshop.php via the GET method. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
iTerm2 before 3.4.18 mishandles a DECRQSS response. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The web-based admin console in H2 Database Engine before 2.2.220 can be started via the CLI with the argument -webAdminPassword, which allows the user to specify the password in cleartext for the web. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
An issue in the /index/user/user_edit.html component of YJCMS v1.0.9 allows unauthenticated attackers to obtain the Administrator account password. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
dedecmdv6 v6.1.9 is vulnerable to Arbitrary file deletion via file_manage_control.php. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
XWiki Platform is a generic wiki platform offering runtime services for applications built on top of it. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
pgjdbc is an open source postgresql JDBC Driver. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
XWiki Platform is a generic wiki platform offering runtime services for applications built on top of it. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
A vulnerability identified in the Tailscale Windows client allows a malicious website to reconfigure the Tailscale daemon `tailscaled`, which can then be used to remotely execute code. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.6), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Zoho ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus versions 13010 and prior are vulnerable to a validation bypass that allows users to access sensitive data via the report module. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity.
Zoho ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus versions 13010 and prior are vulnerable to an XML External Entity attack that leads to Information Disclosure. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. This XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability could allow attackers to read arbitrary files or perform SSRF through XML processing.
An issue was discovered in libxml2 before 2.10.3. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity.
immudb is a database with built-in cryptographic proof and verification. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Insecure method vulnerability in which allowed HTTP methods are disclosed. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
This vulnerability discloses build and services versions in the server response header. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
There is an infoleak vulnerability in the Linux kernel's net/bluetooth/l2cap_core.c's l2cap_parse_conf_req function which can be used to leak kernel pointers remotely. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity.
An access control issue in /Admin/dashboard.php of Record Management System using CodeIgniter v1.0 allows attackers to access and modify user data. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.4), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
An Arm product family through 2022-06-29 has a TOCTOU Race Condition that allows non-privileged user to make improper GPU processing operations to gain access to already freed memory. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable. No vendor patch available.
Maarch RM 2.8.3 solution contains an improper restriction of excessive authentication attempts due to excessive verbose responses from the application. 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.
aliyun-oss-client is a rust client for Alibaba Cloud OSS. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), 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.
immudb is a database with built-in cryptographic proof and verification. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
IBM DataPower Gateway 10.0.3.0 through 10.0.4.0, 10.0.1.0 through 10.0.1.9, 2018.4.1.0 through 2018.4.1.22, and 10.5.0.0 through 10.5.0.2 does not invalidate session after a password change which. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.4), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability was found in keylime. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.1), this vulnerability is no authentication required.
D-Link DIR-878 1.02B05 is vulnerable to Incorrect Access Control. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Unrestricted file size limit can lead to DoS in tooljet/tooljet <1.27 by allowing a logged in attacker to upload profile pictures over 2MB. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
Engine.IO is the implementation of transport-based cross-browser/cross-device bi-directional communication layer for Socket.IO. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
Fusiondirectory 1.3 suffers from Improper Session Handling. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in Appalti & Contratti 9.12.2. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in Appalti & Contratti 9.12.2. 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.
An issue was discovered in Technitium DNS Server through 8.0.2 that allows variant V2 of unintended domain name resolution. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in Technitium DNS Server through 8.0.2 that allows variant V1 of unintended domain name resolution. 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 Micro Focus Filr in versions prior to 4.3.1.1. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
missing input validation in Apache Hama may cause information disclosure through path traversal and XSS. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The Betheme theme for WordPress is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection in versions up to, and including, 26.5.1.4 via deserialization of untrusted input supplied via the import, mfn-items-import-page,. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
The Booster for WooCommerce WordPress plugin before 5.6.7, Booster Plus for WooCommerce WordPress plugin before 5.6.5, Booster Elite for WooCommerce WordPress plugin before 1.1.7 do not validate. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
The DeepL Pro API translation plugin WordPress plugin before 1.7.5 discloses sensitive information (including the DeepL API key) in files that are publicly accessible to an external, unauthenticated. 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.
The function check_is_login_page() uses headers for the IP check, which can be easily spoofed. 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.
An issue was discovered in the FIPS Java API of Bouncy Castle BC-FJA before 1.0.2.4. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A vulnerability was found in iPXE. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity.
SQL injection attacks can result in unauthorized access to sensitive data, such as passwords, credit card details, or personal user information. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
Insufficient Session Expiration in GitHub repository librenms/librenms prior to 22.10.0. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
A vulnerability was found in davidmoreno onion. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.2), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
A vulnerability was found in Dalli up to 3.2.2. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. Public exploit code available.
knative.dev/func is is a client library and CLI enabling the development and deployment of Kubernetes functions. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.4), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
When xdg-mail is configured to use thunderbird for mailto URLs, improper parsing of the URL can lead to additional headers being passed to thunderbird that should not be included per RFC 2368. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.4), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows contains a vulnerability in the kernel mode layer (nvlddmkm.sys), where a local user with basic capabilities can cause an out-of-bounds read, which may lead to. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows contains a vulnerability in the kernel mode layer (nvlddmkm.sys) handler for DxgkDdiEscape, where a local user with basic capabilities can cause an out-of-bounds. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows contains a vulnerability in the kernel mode layer (nvlddmkm.sys) handler for DxgkDdiEscape, where a local user with basic capabilities can cause an out-of-bounds. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), 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.
NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows contains a vulnerability in the kernel mode layer (nvlddmkm.sys), where a local user with basic capabilities can cause an out-of-bounds write, which may lead to. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Linux contains a vulnerability in an optional D-Bus configuration file, where a local user with basic capabilities can impact protected D-Bus endpoints, which may lead. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Linux contains a vulnerability in the kernel mode layer (nvidia.ko), where a local user with basic capabilities can cause improper input validation, which may lead to. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
NVIDIA GPU Display Driver for Windows contains a vulnerability in the kernel mode layer (nvlddmkm.sys) handler for DxgkDdiEscape, where a failure to properly validate data might allow an attacker. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. This Out-of-bounds Write vulnerability could allow attackers to write data beyond allocated buffer boundaries leading to code execution or crashes.
An issue was discovered in MaraDNS Deadwood through 3.5.0021 that allows variant V1 of unintended domain name resolution. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An information-disclosure vulnerability exists on select NXP devices when configured in Serial Download Protocol (SDP) mode: i.MX RT 1010, i.MX RT 1015, i.MX RT 1020, i.MX RT 1050, i.MX RT 1060, i.MX. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.6), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Auth. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Unauth. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Unauth. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Sensitive Information Disclosure vulnerability discovered by Quiz And Survey Master plugin <= 7.3.10 on WordPress. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Auth. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Unauthenticated Error Log Disclosure vulnerability in Media Library Assistant plugin <= 3.00 on WordPress. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Auth. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable. No vendor patch available.
InstallBuilder Qt installers built with versions previous to 22.10 try to load DLLs from the installer binary parent directory when displaying popups. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
TensorFlow is an open source platform for machine learning. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
TensorFlow is an open source platform for machine learning. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
TensorFlow is an open source platform for machine learning. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
TensorFlow is an open source platform for machine learning. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
TensorFlow is an open source platform for machine learning. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
TensorFlow is an open source platform for machine learning. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
TensorFlow is an open source platform for machine learning. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
TensorFlow is an open source platform for machine learning. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
TensorFlow is an open source platform for machine learning. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
TensorFlow is an open source platform for machine learning. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
TensorFlow is an open source platform for machine learning. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
IOBit IOTransfer V4 is vulnerable to Unquoted Service Path. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Wire through 3.22.3993 on Windows advertises deletion of sent messages; nonetheless, all messages can be retrieved (for a limited period of time) from the. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.7). Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
drachtio-server 0.8.18 has a request-handler.cpp event_cb use-after-free for any request. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.