Weakness · Medium
CWE-1230: Exposure of Sensitive Information Through Metadata
What it is
The product prevents direct access to a resource containing sensitive information, but it does not sufficiently limit access to metadata that is derived from the original, sensitive information.
- Severity (our rating)
- Medium
- Likelihood of exploit
- Not rated by MITRE
- Introduced during
- Architecture and Design
- Exploited in the wild
- No CVE in CISA's catalog
In more detail
Developers might correctly prevent unauthorized access to a database or other resource containing sensitive information, but they might not consider that portions of the original information might also be recorded in metadata, search indices, statistical reports, or other resources. If these resources are not also restricted, then attackers might be able to extract some or all of the original information, or otherwise infer some details. For example, an attacker could specify search terms that are known to be unique to a particular person, or view metadata such as activity or creation dates in order to identify usage patterns.
What an attacker can do
- Read Application Data (Confidentiality)
How to prevent it
MITRE lists no specific mitigation for this weakness. Treat it like its parent weaknesses below: validate input, keep the design simple and review the code where it could appear.
H2 Security
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Start freeSource: MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration, CWE version 4.19.1. CWE is a trademark of The MITRE Corporation.