CWE-211

Externally-Generated Error Message Containing Sensitive Information

Medium

Description

The product performs an operation that triggers an external diagnostic or error message that is not directly generated or controlled by the product, such as an error generated by the programming language interpreter that a software application uses. The error can contain sensitive system information.

Potential Impact

How to Fix

System Configuration

Configure the application's environment in a way that prevents errors from being generated. For example, in PHP, disable display_errors.

Implementation

Debugging information should not make its way into a production release.

Implementation

Debugging information should not make its way into a production release.

Implementation

Handle exceptions internally and do not display errors containing potentially sensitive information to a user. Create default error pages if necessary.

Implementation

The best way to prevent this weakness during implementation is to avoid any bugs that could trigger the external error message. This typically happens when the program encounters fatal errors, such as a divide-by-zero. You will not always be able to control the use of error pages, and you might not be using a language that handles exceptions.

Related Weaknesses

References

View on MITRE CWE Database →

Need Help Fixing This Vulnerability?

Our security experts can help you identify and remediate CWE-211 vulnerabilities in your codebase.

Get Security Assessment