CWE-202

Exposure of Sensitive Information Through Data Queries

Medium Risk

Weakness Description

When trying to keep information confidential, an attacker can often infer some of the information by using statistics.

In situations where data should not be tied to individual users, but a large number of users should be able to make queries that "scrub" the identity of users, it may be possible to get information about a user -- e.g., by specifying search terms that are known to be unique to that user.

Potential Mitigations

Architecture and Design

This is a complex topic. See the [REF-1492] for a good discussion of best practices.

Common Consequences

Confidentiality
Read Files or DirectoriesRead Application Data

Sensitive information may possibly be leaked through data queries accidentally.

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