Improper Removal of Sensitive Information Before Storage or Transfer
This vulnerability occurs when an application stores or transmits a resource containing sensitive data without properly cleaning it first, potentially exposing that information to unauthorized parties.
Many resources like documents, database entries, or network packets contain sensitive information—such as internal comments, file paths, or IP addresses—that is only relevant to a specific user or a trusted group. Before sharing that resource more broadly (e.g., exporting a document or forwarding a network request), this private data must be systematically removed, a process often called data cleansing or scrubbing. For developers, this means actively identifying and stripping sensitive metadata or embedded content. Common oversights include leaving reviewer comments in a final document draft or failing to remove internal server headers from outgoing HTTP requests. Without these checks, seemingly innocuous data sharing can inadvertently leak confidential details.
Impact: Read Files or DirectoriesRead 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.
Strategy: Separation of Privilege
Strategy: Attack Surface Reduction
Effectiveness: Defense in Depth
ID : DX-220
This code either generates a public HTML user information page or a JSON response containing the same user information.Code Example:
// API flag, output JSON if set* $json = $_GET['json'] $username = $_GET['user'] if(!$json) { ``` $record = getUserRecord($username); foreach($record as $fieldName => $fieldValue) { if($fieldName == "email_address") {
php- PLOVER