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 (69588)
IBM Guardium Data Encryption (GDE) 4.0.0.4 could allow a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information when a detailed technical error message is returned in the browser. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity.
IBM Guardium Data Encryption (GDE) 3.0.0.3 and 4.0.0.4 could allow a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information, caused by the failure to set the HTTPOnly flag. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Incorrect Permission Assignment vulnerability could allow attackers to access resources due to misconfigured permissions.
IBM Guardium Data Encryption (GDE) 4.0.0.4 uses an inadequate account lockout setting that could allow a remote attacker to brute force account credentials. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
IBM Guardium Data Encryption (GDE) 3.0.0.3 and 4.0.0.4 uses weaker than expected cryptographic algorithms that could allow an attacker to decrypt highly sensitive information. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
IBM Guardium Data Encryption (GDE) 3.0.0.2 and 4.0.0.4 does not invalidate session after logout which could allow an authenticated user to impersonate another user on the system. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity.
An issue was discovered in CommScope Ruckus IoT Controller 1.7.1.0 and earlier. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Observable behavioral discrepancy vulnerability in QSAN Storage Manager allows remote attackers to obtain the system information without permissions. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Incorrect permission assignment for critical resource vulnerability in QSAN Storage Manager allows authenticated remote attackers to access arbitrary password files. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper restriction of excessive authentication attempts vulnerability in QSAN Storage Manager, XEVO, SANOS allows remote attackers to discover users’ credentials and obtain access via a brute force. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Use of hard-coded cryptographic key vulnerability in QSAN Storage Manager allows attackers to obtain users’ credentials and related permissions. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Use of password hash with insufficient computational effort vulnerability in QSAN Storage Manager, XEVO, SANOS allows remote attackers to recover the plain-text password by brute-forcing the MD5. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability in share_link in QSAN Storage Manager allows remote attackers to create a symbolic link then access arbitrary files. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Directory listing vulnerability in share_link in QSAN Storage Manager allows attackers to list arbitrary directories and further access credential information. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
QSAN Storage Manager through directory listing vulnerability in ViewBroserList allows remote authenticated attackers to list arbitrary directories via the file path parameter. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An information disclosure vulnerability in GitLab EE versions 13.10 and later allowed a user to read project details. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in Joomla!. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in Joomla!. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in Joomla!. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper code rendering while rendering merge requests could be exploited to submit malicious code. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.2), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
WRC-1167FS-W, WRC-1167FS-B, and WRC-1167FSA all versions allow an unauthenticated network-adjacent attacker to obtain sensitive information via unspecified vectors. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
kernel/module.c in the Linux kernel before 5.12.14 mishandles Signature Verification, aka CID-0c18f29aae7c. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
An issue has been discovered in GitLab affecting all versions before 13.11.6, all versions starting from 13.12 before 13.12.6, and all versions starting from 14.0 before 14.0.2. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions starting with 12.8. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Under certain conditions, some users were able to push to protected branches that were restricted to deploy keys in GitLab CE/EE since version 13.9. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Usage of hard-coded cryptographic keys to encrypt configuration files and debug logs in FortiAuthenticator versions before 6.3.0 may allow an attacker with access to the files or the CLI. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In the xrdp package (in branches through 3.14) for Alpine Linux, RDP sessions are vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks because pre-generated RSA certificates and private keys are used. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required.
The Device Model in ACRN through 2.5 has a devicemodel/core/mem.c use-after-free for a freed rb_entry. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Use After Free vulnerability could allow attackers to access freed memory to execute arbitrary code or crash the application.
The polling timer handler in ACRN before 2.5 has a use-after-free for a freed virtio device, related to devicemodel/hw/pci/virtio/*.c. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Use After Free vulnerability could allow attackers to access freed memory to execute arbitrary code or crash the application.
Zoho ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus before 6104, in rare situations, allows attackers to obtain sensitive information about the password-sync database application. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
All versions of package ts-nodash are vulnerable to Prototype Pollution via the Merge() function due to lack of validation input. 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.
All versions of package record-like-deep-assign are vulnerable to Prototype Pollution via the main functionality. 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 the Translate extension in MediaWiki through 1.36. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
An issue was discovered in the CentralAuth extension in MediaWiki through 1.36. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
An issue was discovered in the CentralAuth extension in MediaWiki through 1.36. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
An issue was discovered in the AbuseFilter extension in MediaWiki through 1.36. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
Delta Electronics DOPSoft Versions 4.0.10.17 and prior are vulnerable to an out-of-bounds read while processing project files, which may allow an attacker to disclose information. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Delta Electronics DOPSoft Versions 4.0.10.17 and prior are vulnerable to an out-of-bounds read, which may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is 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 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.
XWiki Platform is a generic wiki platform offering runtime services for applications built on top of it. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.4), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in Stormshield SNS through 4.2.1. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An insecure client auto update feature in C-CURE 9000 can allow remote execution of lower privileged Windows programs. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Tieline IP Audio Gateway 2.6.4.8 and below is affected by 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.
There is an Improper Access Control vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
There is a Configuration Defect vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
There is an Improper Access Control vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper access control vulnerability in EC-CUBE 4.0.6 (EC-CUBE 4 series) allows a remote attacker to bypass access restriction and obtain sensitive information via unspecified vectors. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
Fluent Bit (aka fluent-bit) 1.7.0 through 1.7.4 has a double free in flb_free (called from flb_parser_json_do and flb_parser_do). Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
The CIL compiler in SELinux 3.2 has a heap-based buffer over-read in ebitmap_match_any (called indirectly from cil_check_neverallow). Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
The CIL compiler in SELinux 3.2 has a use-after-free in cil_reset_classpermission (called from cil_reset_classperms_set and cil_reset_classperms_list). Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
The CIL compiler in SELinux 3.2 has a use-after-free in __cil_verify_classperms (called from __verify_map_perm_classperms and hashtab_map). Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
The CIL compiler in SELinux 3.2 has a use-after-free in __cil_verify_classperms (called from __cil_verify_classpermission and __cil_pre_verify_helper). Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
Tesseract OCR 5.0.0-alpha-20201231 has a one_ell_conflict use-after-free during a strpbrk call. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
GNU LibreDWG 0.12.3.4163 through 0.12.3.4191 has a double-free in bit_chain_free (called from dwg_encode_MTEXT and dwg_encode_add_object). Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
There is a Configuration Defect Vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
There is a Credentials Management Errors Vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
There is an Input Verification Vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
There is a Memory Buffer Improper Operation Limit Vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In Artica Pandora FMS <=754 in the File Manager component, there is sensitive information exposed on the client side which attackers can access. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
think-helper defines a set of helper functions for ThinkJS. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
There is an Information Disclosure Vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
There is a Memory Buffer Improper Operation Limit Vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A missing permission check in Jenkins requests-plugin Plugin 2.2.6 and earlier allows attackers with Overall/Read permission to view the list of pending requests. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Jenkins CAS Plugin 1.6.0 and earlier improperly determines that a redirect URL after login is legitimately pointing to Jenkins, allowing attackers to perform phishing attacks. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Jenkins 2.299 and earlier, LTS 2.289.1 and earlier does not invalidate the previous session on login. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
Jenkins 2.299 and earlier, LTS 2.289.1 and earlier allows users to cancel queue items and abort builds of jobs for which they have Item/Cancel permission even when they do not have Item/Read. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Talk 4 in Coral before 4.12.1 allows remote attackers to discover e-mail addresses and other sensitive information via GraphQL because permission checks use an incorrect data type. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
There is an Improper Validation of Array Index Vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
There is a Defects Introduced in the Design Process Vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
There is a Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information Vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
There is a Key Management Errors Vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
There is a Security Features Vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
There is a Credentials Management Errors Vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
IBM Cognos Analytics 10.0 and 11.1 is susceptible to a weakness in the implementation of the System Appearance configuration setting. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
There exists an unauthenticated BLE Interface in Sloan SmartFaucets including Optima EAF, Optima ETF/EBF, BASYS EFX, and Flushometers including SOLIS. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.4), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Trusty TLK contains a vulnerability in the NVIDIA TLK kernel function where a lack of checks allows the exploitation of an integer overflow on the size parameter of the tz_map_shared_mem function,. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Bootloader contains a vulnerability in NVIDIA MB2 where potential heap overflow might cause corruption of the heap metadata, which might lead to arbitrary code execution, denial of service, and. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Trusty contains a vulnerability in the HDCP service TA where bounds checking in command 11 is missing. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Trusty contains a vulnerability in the HDCP service TA where bounds checking in command 9 is missing. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Trusty contains a vulnerability in the HDCP service TA where bounds checking in command 5 is missing. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Trusty contains a vulnerability in all trusted applications (TAs) where the stack cookie was not randomized, which might result in stack-based buffer overflow, leading to denial of service,. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Trusty contains a vulnerability in command handlers where the length of input buffers is not verified. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Trusty trusted Linux kernel (TLK) contains a vulnerability in the NVIDIA TLK kernel where a lack of heap hardening could cause heap overflows, which might lead to information disclosure and denial of. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.0), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
xen/arm: Boot modules are not scrubbed The bootloader will load boot modules (e.g. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper Input Validation vulnerability in HTTP/2 of Apache Traffic Server allows an attacker to DOS the server.0.0 to 7.1.12, 8.0.0 to 8.1.1, 9.0.0 to 9.0.1. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper Input Validation vulnerability in HTTP/2 of Apache Traffic Server allows an attacker to DOS the server.0.0 to 7.1.12, 8.0.0 to 8.1.1, 9.0.0 to 9.0.1. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
There is a memory leak vulnerability in Huawei products. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
There has a license management vulnerability in some Huawei products. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Ratpack is a toolkit for creating web applications. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
Ratpack is a toolkit for creating web applications. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable. No vendor patch available.
The TIBCO Spotfire Server and TIBCO Enterprise Runtime for R components of TIBCO Software Inc.'s TIBCO Enterprise Runtime for R - Server Edition, TIBCO Enterprise Runtime for R - Server Edition,. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.