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Description
The product stores, transfers, or shares a resource that contains sensitive information, but it does not properly remove that information before the product makes the resource available to unauthorized actors.
Modes of Introduction:
– Architecture and Design
Related Weaknesses
CWE-669
CWE-669
CWE-201
Consequences
Confidentiality: Read Files or Directories, Read Application Data
Sensitive data may be exposed to an unauthorized actor in another control sphere. This may have a wide range of secondary consequences which will depend on what data is exposed. One possibility is the exposure of system data allowing an attacker to craft a specific, more effective attack.
Potential Mitigations
Phase: Requirements
Description:
Clearly specify which information should be regarded as private or sensitive, and require that the product offers functionality that allows the user to cleanse the sensitive information from the resource before it is published or exported to other parties.
Phase: Architecture and Design
Description:
Phase: Implementation
Effectiveness: Defense in Depth
Description:
Use naming conventions and strong types to make it easier to spot when sensitive data is being used. When creating structures, objects, or other complex entities, separate the sensitive and non-sensitive data as much as possible.
This makes it easier to spot places in the code where data is being used that is unencrypted.
Phase: Implementation
Description:
Avoid errors related to improper resource shutdown or release (CWE-404), which may leave the sensitive data within the resource if it is in an incomplete state.
CVE References
- CVE-2005-0406
- Some image editors modify a JPEG image, but the original EXIF thumbnail image is left intact within the JPEG. (Also an interaction error).
- CVE-2002-0704
- NAT feature in firewall leaks internal IP addresses in ICMP error messages.
