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 (69724)
An improper handling of exceptional conditions vulnerability in Cortex XDR Agent allows a local authenticated Windows user to create files in the software's internal program directory that prevents. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A locking issue was discovered in the tty subsystem of the Linux kernel through 5.9.13. 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.
A locking inconsistency issue was discovered in the tty subsystem of the Linux kernel through 5.9.13. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.4), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
SAP AS JAVA (Key Storage Service), versions - 7.10, 7.11, 7.20 ,7.30, 7.31, 7.40, 7.50, has the key material which is stored in the SAP NetWeaver AS Java Key Storage service stored in the database in. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
jupyterhub-systemdspawner enables JupyterHub to spawn single-user notebook servers using systemd. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.9), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. This Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere vulnerability could allow attackers to access resources from an unintended security context.
BookStack is a platform for storing and organising information and documentation. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.4), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In JerryScript 2.3.0, there is an out-of-bounds read in main_print_unhandled_exception in the main-utils.c file. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An information disclosure vulnerability exists in RT-AC88U Download Master before 3.1.0.108. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The aptdaemon DBus interface disclosed file existence disclosure by setting Terminal/DebconfSocket properties, aka GHSL-2020-192 and GHSL-2020-196. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
Searching for a single word from the address bar caused an mDNS request to be sent on the local network searching for a hostname consisting of that string; resulting in an information leak. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Some websites have a feature "Show Password" where clicking a button will change a password field into a textbook field, revealing the typed password. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
If the Remote Debugging via USB feature was enabled in Firefox for Android on an Android version prior to Android 6.0, untrusted apps could have connected to the feature and operated with the. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
Repeated calls to the history and location interfaces could have been used to hang the browser. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
When DNS over HTTPS is in use, it intentionally filters RFC1918 and related IP ranges from the responses as these do not make sense coming from a DoH resolver. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
OneCRL was non-functional in the new Firefox for Android due to a missing service initialization. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
When a user downloaded a file in Firefox for Android, if a cookie is set, it would have been re-sent during a subsequent file download operation on the same domain, regardless of whether the original. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
When accepting a malicious intent from other installed apps, Firefox for Android accepted manifests from arbitrary file paths and allowed declaring webapp manifests for other origins. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In certain circumstances, the MCallGetProperty opcode can be emitted with unmet assumptions resulting in an exploitable use-after-free condition. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Opencast before versions 8.9 and 7.9 disables HTTPS hostname verification of its HTTP client used for a large portion of Opencast's HTTP requests. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable.
A flaw was found in ImageMagick in coders/txt.c. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A floating point math calculation in ScaleAnyToQuantum() of /MagickCore/quantum-private.h could lead to undefined behavior in the form of a value outside the range of type unsigned long long. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
In ParseMetaGeometry() of MagickCore/geometry.c, image height and width calculations can lead to divide-by-zero conditions which also lead to undefined behavior. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A flaw was found in ImageMagick in MagickCore/quantum-export.c. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A flaw was found in ImageMagick in MagickCore/colorspace-private.h and MagickCore/quantum.h. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A memory initialization issue was addressed. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A logic issue existed in the handling of Group FaceTime calls. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An issue existed in the handling of incoming calls. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
This issue was addressed by removing the vulnerable code. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An issue existed in the handling of snapshots. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An information disclosure issue existed in the transition of program state. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with improved deletion. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with improved deletion. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A validation issue existed in the entitlement verification. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A logic issue was addressed with improved state management. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An access issue was addressed with additional sandbox restrictions. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with improved handling of icon caches. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved bounds checking. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved bounds checking. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A logic issue was addressed with improved state management. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An information disclosure issue was addressed with improved state management. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The issue was addressed with additional user controls. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Git Credential Manager Core (GCM Core) is a secure Git credential helper built on .NET Core that runs on Windows and macOS. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable. Public exploit code available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved bounds checking. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A logic issue was addressed with improved state management. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A logic issue was addressed with improved state management. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
This issue was addressed with improved entitlements. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An issue existed within the path validation logic for symlinks. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A logic issue was addressed with improved state management. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The official irssi docker images before 1.1-alpine (Alpine specific) contain a blank password for a root user. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The official notary docker images before signer-0.6.1-1 contain a blank password for a root user. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The official spiped docker images before 1.5-alpine contain a blank password for a root user. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The official storm Docker images before 1.2.1 contain a blank password for a root user. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The official Express Gateway Docker images before 1.14.0 contain a blank password for a root user. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The official znc docker images before 1.7.1-slim contain a blank password for a root user. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The official eggdrop Docker images before 1.8.4rc2 contain a blank password for a root user. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The official elixir Docker images before 1.8.0-alpine (Alpine specific) contain a blank password for a root user. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The official Consul Docker images 0.7.1 through 1.4.2 contain a blank password for a root user. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The official piwik Docker images before fpm-alpine (Alpine specific) contain a blank password for a root user. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
API calls in the Translation API feature in Systran Pure Neural Server before 9.7.0 allow a threat actor to use the Systran Pure Neural Server as a Denial-of-Service proxy by sending a large amount. 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.
Kirby is a CMS. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required.
A flaw was found in Wildfly affecting versions 19.0.0.Final, 19.1.0.Final, 20.0.0.Final, 20.0.1.Final, and 21.0.0.Final. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
A flaw was found in Ceph-ansible v4.0.41 where it creates an /etc/ceph/iscsi-gateway.conf with insecure default permissions. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In Kubernetes clusters using Ceph RBD as a storage provisioner, with logging level of at least 4, Ceph RBD admin secrets can be written to logs. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In Kubernetes, if the logging level is set to at least 9, authorization and bearer tokens will be written to log files. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In Kubernetes clusters using a logging level of at least 4, processing a malformed docker config file will result in the contents of the docker config file being leaked, which can include pull. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In Kubernetes clusters using VSphere as a cloud provider, with a logging level set to 4 or above, VSphere cloud credentials will be leaked in the cloud controller manager's log. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
Apache Groovy provides extension methods to aid with creating temporary directories. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
In Apache APISIX, the user enabled the Admin API and deleted the Admin API access IP restriction rules. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
PlugIns\IDE_ACDStd.apl in ACDSee Photo Studio Studio Professional 2021 14.0 Build 1705 has a User Mode Write AV starting at IDE_ACDStd!JPEGTransW+0x00000000000031aa. 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 Kata Containers through 1.11.3 and 2.x through 2.0-rc1. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
The Eat Spray Love mobile app for both iOS and Android contains a backdoor account that, when modified, allowed privileged access to restricted functionality and to other users' data. 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.
The installer of Kaspersky Anti-Ransomware Tool (KART) prior to KART 4.0 Patch C was vulnerable to a DLL hijacking attack that allowed an attacker to elevate privileges during installation process. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A flaw was found in ImageMagick in MagickCore/gem-private.h. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A flaw was found in ImageMagick in coders/bmp.c. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A flaw was found in ImageMagick in MagickCore/statistic.c. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A flaw was found in ImageMagick in MagickCore/quantum.h. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A flaw was found in ImageMagick in MagickCore/statistic.c. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
In RestoreMSCWarning() of /coders/pdf.c there are several areas where calls to GetPixelIndex() could result in values outside the range of representable for the unsigned char type. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A flaw was found in ImageMagick in MagickCore/quantum.h. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A flaw was found in ImageMagick in MagickCore/statistic.c. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
A flaw was found in ImageMagick in MagickCore/segment.c. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Out-of-bounds read vulnerability in GT21 model of GOT2000 series (GT2107-WTBD V01.39.000 and earlier, GT2107-WTSD V01.39.000 and earlier, GT2104-RTBD V01.39.000 and earlier, GT2104-PMBD V01.39.000. 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 SonicBOOM riscv-boom 3.0.0. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An Ubuntu-specific patch in PulseAudio created a race condition where the snap policy module would fail to identify a client connection from a snap as coming from a snap if SCM_CREDENTIALS were. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.7). Public exploit code available.
An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel before 5.9.3. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
While investigating bug 64830 it was discovered that Apache Tomcat 10.0.0-M1 to 10.0.0-M9, 9.0.0-M1 to 9.0.39 and 8.5.0 to 8.5.59 could re-use an HTTP request header value from the previous stream. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), 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.