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 (69476)
Windows Local Security Authority (LSA) Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Microsoft Local Security Authority (LSA) Server Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Windows Hyper-V Shared Virtual Hard Disks Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Cluster Client Failover (CCF) Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Windows Desktop Bridge Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Windows Kerberos Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Windows Kernel Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Windows ALPC Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.0). No vendor patch available.
Windows Common Log File System Driver Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Connected User Experiences and Telemetry Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Windows Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Microsoft SharePoint Server Spoofing Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.0), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Microsoft Power BI Spoofing Vulnerability. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.7), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable. No vendor patch available.
A PHP Local File Inclusion vulneraility in the default Redbasic theme for Hubzilla before version 7.2 allows remote attackers to include arbitrary php files via the schema parameter. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
pearweb < 1.32 is suffers from a Weak Password Recovery Mechanism via include/users/passwordmanage.php. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
Sensitive Information Disclosure (sac-export.csv) in Simple Ajax Chat (WordPress plugin) <= 20220115. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability in the History API of Cisco SD-WAN vManage Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to gain access to sensitive information on an affected system. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco Catalyst 9000 Family Switches and Cisco Catalyst 9000 Family Wireless Controllers could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
STB v2.27 was discovered to contain an integer shift of invalid size in the component stbi__jpeg_decode_block_prog_ac. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
stb_image.h v2.27 was discovered to contain an heap-based use-after-free via the function stbi__jpeg_huff_decode. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
A vulnerability affecting F-Secure SAFE browser was discovered. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability affecting F-Secure SAFE browser was discovered. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An Address bar spoofing vulnerability was discovered in Safe Browser for Android. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Metabase is an open source business intelligence and analytics application. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Metabase is an open source business intelligence and analytics application. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Discourse is an open source platform for community discussion. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
DisCatSharp is a Discord API wrapper for .NET. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Discourse is an open source platform for community discussion. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
In Spring Framework versions 5.3.0 - 5.3.18, 5.2.0 - 5.2.20, and older unsupported versions, the patterns for disallowedFields on a DataBinder are case sensitive which means a field is not. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read/write vulnerability was found in e2fsprogs 1.46.5. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
IBM Aspera High-Speed Transfer 4.3.1 and earlier could allow an authenticated user to obtain information from non sensitive operating system files that they should not have access to. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
SWHKD 1.1.5 consumes the keyboard events of unintended users. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.4), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
SWHKD 1.1.5 allows arbitrary file-existence tests via the -c option. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in Amazon AWS VPN Client 2.0.0. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.0), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
An Incorrect Ownership Assignment vulnerability in Juniper Networks Contrail Service Orchestration (CSO) allows a locally authenticated user to have their permissions elevated without authentication. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Due to an Improper Initialization vulnerability in Juniper Networks Junos OS on EX4650 devices, packets received on the management interface (em0) but not destined to the device, may be improperly. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
nginx njs 0.7.2 is affected suffers from Use-after-free in njs_function_frame_alloc() when it try to invoke from a restored frame saved with njs_function_frame_save(). Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
Insecure storage of sensitive information vulnerability in MA for Linux, macOS, and Windows prior to 5.7.6 allows a local user to gain access to sensitive information through storage in ma.db. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
MariaDB Server v10.6.3 and below was discovered to contain an use-after-free in the component my_mb_wc_latin1 at /strings/ctype-latin1.c. 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.
MariaDB Server v10.6.3 and below was discovered to contain an use-after-free in the component VDec::VDec at /sql/sql_type.cc. 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.
MariaDB Server v10.6.3 and below was discovered to contain an use-after-free in the component my_wildcmp_8bit_impl at /strings/ctype-simple.c. 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.
MariaDB Server v10.9 and below was discovered to contain a segmentation fault via the component sql/item_cmpfunc.cc. 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.
MariaDB Server v10.9 and below was discovered to contain a segmentation fault via the component sql/field_conv.cc. 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.
MariaDB Server v10.9 and below was discovered to contain a segmentation fault via the component sql/item_func.cc:148. 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.
MariaDB Server v10.9 and below was discovered to contain a use-after-free via the component Binary_string::free_buffer() at /sql/sql_string.h. 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.
MariaDB Server v10.9 and below was discovered to contain a segmentation fault via the component sql/item_cmpfunc.h. 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.
MariaDB Server v10.9 and below was discovered to contain a segmentation fault via the component sql/sql_window.cc. 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.
MariaDB Server v10.9 and below was discovered to contain a segmentation fault via the component sql/item_subselect.cc. 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.
A vulnerability in the encryption implementation of EBICS messages in the open source librairy ebics-java/ebics-java-client allows an attacker sniffing network traffic to decrypt EBICS payloads. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
Vyper is a pythonic Smart Contract Language for the ethereum virtual machine. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
Stored XSS viva .svg file upload in GitHub repository causefx/organizr prior to 2.1.1810. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.0), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
An improper handling of exceptional conditions vulnerability exists in the DNS proxy feature of Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS software that enables a meddler-in-the-middle (MITM) to send specifically. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read can be exploited in Autodesk TrueView 2022 may lead to an exposure of sensitive information or a crash through using a maliciously crafted DWG file as an Input. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A buffer over-read can be exploited in Autodesk TrueView 2022 may lead to an exposure of sensitive information or a crash through using a maliciously crafted DWG file as an Input. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
VMware Workspace ONE Access, Identity Manager and vRealize Automation contain an information disclosure vulnerability due to returning excess information. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), 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.
Multiple Stored XSS in GitHub repository causefx/organizr prior to 2.1.1810. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.0), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
Stored XSS due to no sanitization in the filename in GitHub repository causefx/organizr prior to 2.1.1810. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.0), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
One of the API in Mattermost version 6.4.1 and earlier fails to properly protect the permissions, which allows the authenticated members with restricted custom admin role to bypass the restrictions. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A CWE-611: Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference vulnerability exists that could result in information disclosure when opening a malicious solution file provided by an attacker with. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An issue in EasyIO CPT Graphics v0.8 allows attackers to discover valid users in the application. 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.
Automox Agent prior to version 37 on Windows and Linux and Version 36 on OSX could allow for a non privileged user to obtain sensitive information during the install process. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
drivers/infiniband/ulp/rtrs/rtrs-clt.c in the Linux kernel before 5.16.12 has a double free related to rtrs_clt_dev_release. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
A post-authentication arbitrary file read vulnerability impacting end-of-life Secure Remote Access (SRA) products and older firmware versions of Secure Mobile Access (SMA) 100 series products,. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Jenkins Google Compute Engine Plugin 4.3.8 and earlier stores private keys unencrypted in cloud agent config.xml files on the Jenkins controller where they can be viewed by users with Extended Read. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Tcpreplay v4.4.1 was discovered to contain a double-free via __interceptor_free. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
MariaDB Server v10.6 and below was discovered to contain an use-after-free in the component my_strcasecmp_8bit, which is exploited via specially crafted SQL statements. 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.
MariaDB Server v10.7 and below was discovered to contain a segmentation fault via the component Item_field::used_tables/update_depend_map_for_order. 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.
MariaDB Server v10.6.3 and below was discovered to contain an use-after-free in the component Item_func_in::cleanup(), which is exploited via specially crafted SQL statements. 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.
MariaDB Server v10.6.5 and below was discovered to contain an use-after-free in the component Item_args::walk_arg, which is exploited via specially crafted SQL statements. 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.
GitHub: Git for Windows' uninstaller vulnerable to DLL hijacking when run under the SYSTEM user account. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity.
Git for Windows is a fork of Git containing Windows-specific patches. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Dell PowerScale OneFS, versions 8.2.2-9.3.x, contain a time-of-check-to-time-of-use vulnerability. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.6). No vendor patch available.
Dell EMC PowerScale OneFS 8.2.x - 9.3.0.x contain an improper handling of value vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Dell PowerScale OneFS 8.2.2 and above contain an elevation of privilege vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Dell PowerScale OneFS versions 8.2.x - 9.3.0.x contain a denial-of-service vulnerability in SmartConnect. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
Dell PowerScale OneFS, versions 8.2.0-9.3.0, contains an Improper Handling of Insufficient Permissions vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity.
Dell PowerScale OneFS, 8.2.2 - 9.3.0.x, contain a missing release of memory after effective lifetime vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. This Memory Leak vulnerability could allow attackers to exhaust available memory leading to denial of service.
Dell PowerScale OneFS, versions 9.0.0-9.3.0, contain an improper authorization of index containing sensitive information. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity.
Dell PowerScale OneFS, versions 8.2.0-9.3.0, contain a improper handling of missing values exploit. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
Dell PowerScale OneFS, versions 8.2.x-9.3.0.x, contain an improper restriction of excessive authentication attempts. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
Dell PowerScale OneFS, version 9.3.0, contains a use of a broken or risky cryptographic algorithm. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
Dell PowerScale OneFS, versions 8.2.2 and above, contain a password disclosure vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
Dell PowerScale OneFS, 8.2.x-9.3.x, contains a Improper Certificate Validation. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability within the Avira Password Manager Browser Extensions provided a potential loophole where, if a user visited a page crafted by an attacker, the discovered vulnerability could trigger. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
When a user access SOAP Web services in SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform - version 420, 430, it does not sufficiently validate the XML document accepted from an untrusted source,. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A CSRF token visible in the URL may possibly lead to information disclosure vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Under certain conditions, SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform, Client Management Console (CMC) - version 430, allows an attacker to access information which would otherwise be. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The affected product is vulnerable to an out-of-bounds read, which may result in code execution. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity.
A security vulnerability has been identified in HPE Nimble Storage Hybrid Flash Arrays, HPE Nimble Storage All Flash Arrays and HPE Nimble Storage Secondary Flash Arrays during update. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.