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 (70442)
A validation issue existed in the handling of symlinks. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An access issue was addressed with improved access restrictions. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An authorization issue was addressed with improved state management. Rated low severity (CVSS 2.4), 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 high severity (CVSS 8.6), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A double free issue was addressed with improved memory management. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An entitlement parsing issue was addressed with improved parsing. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A race condition was addressed with improved state handling. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.0), this vulnerability is no authentication required. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved bounds checking. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved bounds checking. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An issue existed in the pausing of FaceTime video. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A memory initialization issue was addressed with improved memory handling. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved input validation. 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 restrictions. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
This issue was addressed with improved checks. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A logic issue was addressed with improved restrictions. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch 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.
An information disclosure 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 information disclosure 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 information disclosure 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 restrictions. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.6), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A logic issue was addressed with improved restrictions. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
An information disclosure issue was addressed by removing the vulnerable code. 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 high severity (CVSS 8.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, 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.
A validation issue was addressed with improved input sanitization. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The file transfer component of TIBCO Software Inc.'s TIBCO Managed File Transfer Platform Server for IBM i contains a vulnerability that theoretically allows execution of arbitrary commands at the. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
This issue was addressed with improved checks. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Nagios 4.4.5 allows an attacker, who already has administrative access to change the "URL for JSON CGIs" configuration setting, to modify the Alert Histogram and Trends code via crafted versions of. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
D-Link DSL 2730-U IN_1.10 and IN_1.11 and DIR-600M 3.04 devices have the domain.name string in the DNS resolver search path by default, which allows remote attackers to provide valid DNS responses. 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.
PHPMailer before 6.1.6 contains an output escaping bug when the name of a file attachment contains a double quote character. 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 dbus >= 1.3.0 before 1.12.18. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
In Couchbase Server 6.0.3 and Couchbase Sync Gateway through 2.7.0, the Cluster management, views, query, and full-text search endpoints are vulnerable to the Slowloris denial-of-service attack. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Couchbase Server Java SDK before 2.7.1.1 allows a potential attacker to forge an SSL certificate and pose as the intended peer. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
BCC recipients in mails sent from OTRS are visible in article detail on external interface.0.3 and prior versions, 7.0.17 and prior versions. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
WinGate v9.4.1.5998 has insecure permissions for the installation directory, which allows local users to gain privileges by replacing an executable file with a Trojan horse. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
ODF documents can contain forms to be filled out by the user. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
LibreOffice has a 'stealth mode' in which only documents from locations deemed 'trusted' are allowed to retrieve remote resources. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A security misconfiguration vulnerability exists in the SDK of some Realtek ADSL/PON Modem SoC firmware, which allows attackers using a default password to execute arbitrary commands remotely via the. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
SolarWinds Advanced Monitoring Agent before 10.8.9 allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse .exe file, because everyone can write to a certain .exe file. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Pengutronix Barebox through v2020.05.0 has an out-of-bounds read in nfs_read_reply in net/nfs.c because a field of an incoming network packet is directly used as a length field without any bounds. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
The Ignition component before 2.0.5 for Laravel mishandles globals, _get, _post, _cookie, and _env. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
FFmpeg 2.8 and 4.2.3 has a use-after-free via a crafted EXTINF duration in an m3u8 file because parse_playlist in libavformat/hls.c frees a pointer, and later that pointer is accessed in. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
ImageMagick 7.0.9-27 through 7.0.10-17 has a heap-based buffer over-read in BlobToStringInfo in MagickCore/string.c during TIFF image decoding. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Crypt::Perl::ECDSA in the Crypt::Perl (aka p5-Crypt-Perl) module before 0.32 for Perl fails to verify correct ECDSA signatures when r and s are small and when s = 1. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
In support.c in pam_tacplus 1.3.8 through 1.5.1, the TACACS+ shared secret gets logged via syslog if the DEBUG loglevel and journald are used. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
SQLite 3.32.2 has a use-after-free in resetAccumulator in select.c because the parse tree rewrite for window functions is too late. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
A vulnerability in the improper handling of symbolic links in Bitdefender Antivirus Free can allow an unprivileged user to substitute a quarantined file, and restore it to a privileged. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.1), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Huawei Smartphones HONOR 20 PRO;Honor View 20;HONOR 20 have an improper handling of exceptional condition Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Huawei products NIP6800;Secospace USG6600;USG9500 have a memory leak vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Apache Unomi allows conditions to use OGNL scripting which offers the possibility to call static Java classes from the JDK that could execute code with the permission level of the running Java. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
An issue was discovered in Docker Desktop through 2.2.0.5 on Windows. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered on LG mobile devices with Android OS 7.2, 8.0, 8.1, 9, and 10 (MTK chipsets). Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The update feature for Pydio Cells 2.0.4 allows an administrator user to set a custom update URL and the public RSA key used to validate the downloaded update package. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Pydio Cells 2.0.4 web application offers an administrative console named “Cells Console” that is available to users with an administrator role. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.2), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Castel NextGen DVR v1.0.0 stores and displays credentials for the associated SMTP server in cleartext. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered on Samsung mobile devices with O(8.x), P(9.0), and Q(10.0) software. 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 on Samsung mobile devices with O(8.x) (with TEEGRIS) software. 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 on Samsung mobile devices with O(8.x), P(9.0), and Q(10.0) software. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered on Samsung mobile devices with P(9.0) software. 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 on Samsung mobile devices with P(9.0) and Q(10.0) software. 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 all Athom Homey and Homey Pro devices up to the current version 4.2.0. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in Foxit Reader and PhantomPDF before 9.7.1. 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 Foxit Studio Photo before 3.6.6.922. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in Foxit Studio Photo before 3.6.6.922. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
ati-vga in hw/display/ati.c in QEMU 4.2.0 allows guest OS users to trigger infinite recursion via a crafted mm_index value during an ati_mm_read or ati_mm_write call. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.0), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
hw/pci/pci.c in QEMU 4.2.0 allows guest OS users to trigger an out-of-bounds access by providing an address near the end of the PCI configuration space. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), 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.
An issue was discovered in Foxit Reader and PhantomPDF before 9.7.2. 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.
An issue was discovered in Foxit Reader and PhantomPDF before 9.7.2. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
An issue was discovered in Foxit Reader and PhantomPDF before 9.7.2. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Use of Hard-coded Credentials vulnerability could allow attackers to gain access using credentials embedded in source code.
IBM Security Guardium 11.1 uses an inadequate account lockout setting that could allow a remote attacker to brute force account credentials. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
IBM Security Guardium 11.1 uses weaker than expected cryptographic algorithms that could allow an attacker to decrypt highly sensitive information. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.4), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An unquoted service path vulnerability in the FortiSIEM Windows Agent component may allow an attacker to gain elevated privileges via the AoWinAgt executable service path. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A sensitive information disclosure vulnerability was discovered in the web interface component of IP Office that may potentially allow a local user to gain unauthorized access to the component. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
The October CMS debugbar plugin before version 3.1.0 contains a feature where it will log all requests (and all information pertaining to each request including session data) whenever it is enabled. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
Inappropriate implementation in accessibility in Google Chrome prior to 74.0.3729.108 allowed a remote attacker to obtain potentially sensitive information from process memory via a crafted HTML page. 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.
Inappropriate implementation in interstitials in Google Chrome prior to 80.0.3987.87 allowed a remote attacker to spoof the contents of the Omnibox (URL bar) via a crafted HTML page. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Incorrect security UI in payments in Google Chrome on Android prior to 83.0.4103.97 allowed a remote attacker to spoof the contents of the Omnibox (URL bar) via a crafted HTML page. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In OctoberCMS (october/october composer package) versions from 1.0.319 and before 1.0.466, an attacker can exploit this vulnerability to upload jpg, jpeg, bmp, png, webp, gif, ico, css, js, woff,. Rated low severity (CVSS 2.7), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
In OctoberCMS (october/october composer package) versions from 1.0.319 and before 1.0.466, an attacker can exploit this vulnerability to delete arbitrary local files of an October CMS server. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
In OctoberCMS (october/october composer package) versions from 1.0.319 and before 1.0.466, an attacker can exploit this vulnerability to read local files of an October CMS server. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
libjpeg-turbo 2.0.4, and mozjpeg 4.0.0, has a heap-based buffer over-read in get_rgb_row() in rdppm.c via a malformed PPM input file. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes (ECK) versions prior to 1.1.0 generate passwords using a weak random number generator. 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 audit logging component of Cisco Digital Network Architecture (DNA) Center could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to view sensitive information in clear text. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity.
A vulnerability in the Cisco Application Framework component of the Cisco IOx application environment could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to write or modify arbitrary files in the virtual. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability in the Cisco Application Framework component of the Cisco IOx application environment could allow an authenticated, local attacker to overwrite arbitrary files in the virtual instance. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A vulnerability in the Internet Key Exchange Version 2 (IKEv2) implementation in Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to prevent IKEv2 from. 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 web-based user interface (web UI) of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker with administrative privileges to read arbitrary files on the. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity.
A vulnerability in the hardware crypto driver of Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco 4300 Series Integrated Services Routers and Cisco Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controllers could allow an unauthenticated,. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required.
A vulnerability in software image verification in Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, physical attacker to install and boot a malicious software image or execute unsigned binaries. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity.