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Home > CWE List > CWE-532: Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File (4.18)
ID
CWE Glossary Definition

CWE-532: Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File

Weakness ID: 532
Vulnerability Mapping: ALLOWED This CWE ID may be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities
Abstraction: Base Base - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.
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Description
The product writes sensitive information to a log file. Diagram for CWE-532
Common Consequences
Section HelpThis table specifies different individual consequences associated with the weakness. The Scope identifies the application security area that is violated, while the Impact describes the negative technical impact that arises if an adversary succeeds in exploiting this weakness. The Likelihood provides information about how likely the specific consequence is expected to be seen relative to the other consequences in the list. For example, there may be high likelihood that a weakness will be exploited to achieve a certain impact, but a low likelihood that it will be exploited to achieve a different impact.
Impact Details

Read Application Data

Scope: Confidentiality

Logging sensitive user data, full path names, or system information often provides attackers with an additional, less-protected path to acquiring the information.
Potential Mitigations
Phase(s) Mitigation

Architecture and Design; Implementation
Consider seriously the sensitivity of the information written into log files. Do not write secrets into the log files.

Distribution
Remove debug log files before deploying the application into production.

Operation
Protect log files against unauthorized read/write.

Implementation
Adjust configurations appropriately when software is transitioned from a debug state to production.
Relationships
Section Help This table shows the weaknesses and high level categories that are related to this weakness. These relationships are defined as ChildOf, ParentOf, MemberOf and give insight to similar items that may exist at higher and lower levels of abstraction. In addition, relationships such as PeerOf and CanAlsoBe are defined to show similar weaknesses that the user may want to explore.
Relevant to the view "Research Concepts" (View-1000)
Nature Type ID Name
ChildOf Base Base - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource. 538 Insertion of Sensitive Information into Externally-Accessible File or Directory
Relevant to the view "Weaknesses for Simplified Mapping of Published Vulnerabilities" (View-1003)
Nature Type ID Name
ChildOf Class Class - a weakness that is described in a very abstract fashion, typically independent of any specific language or technology. More specific than a Pillar Weakness, but more general than a Base Weakness. Class level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 1 or 2 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, and resource. 200 Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
Relevant to the view "Architectural Concepts" (View-1008)
Nature Type ID Name
MemberOf Category Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic. 1009 Audit
Modes Of Introduction
Section HelpThe different Modes of Introduction provide information about how and when this weakness may be introduced. The Phase identifies a point in the life cycle at which introduction may occur, while the Note provides a typical scenario related to introduction during the given phase.
Phase Note
Architecture and Design COMMISSION: This weakness refers to an incorrect design related to an architectural security tactic.
Implementation
Operation
Likelihood Of Exploit
Medium
Demonstrative Examples

Example 1


In the following code snippet, a user's full name and credit card number are written to a log file.

(bad code)
Example Language: Java
logger.info("Username: " + usernme + ", CCN: " + ccn);


Example 2


This code stores location information about the current user:

(bad code)
Example Language: Java
locationClient = new LocationClient(this, this, this);
locationClient.connect();
currentUser.setLocation(locationClient.getLastLocation());
...

catch (Exception e) {
AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(this);
builder.setMessage("Sorry, this application has experienced an error.");
AlertDialog alert = builder.create();
alert.show();
Log.e("ExampleActivity", "Caught exception: " + e + " While on User:" + User.toString());
}

When the application encounters an exception it will write the user object to the log. Because the user object contains location information, the user's location is also written to the log.



Example 3


In the example below, the method getUserBankAccount retrieves a bank account object from a database using the supplied username and account number to query the database. If an SQLException is raised when querying the database, an error message is created and output to a log file.

(bad code)
Example Language: Java
public BankAccount getUserBankAccount(String username, String accountNumber) {
BankAccount userAccount = null;
String query = null;
try {
if (isAuthorizedUser(username)) {
query = "SELECT * FROM accounts WHERE owner = "
+ username + " AND accountID = " + accountNumber;
DatabaseManager dbManager = new DatabaseManager();
Connection conn = dbManager.getConnection();
Statement stmt = conn.createStatement();
ResultSet queryResult = stmt.executeQuery(query);
userAccount = (BankAccount)queryResult.getObject(accountNumber);
}
} catch (SQLException ex) {
String logMessage = "Unable to retrieve account information from database,\nquery: " + query;
Logger.getLogger(BankManager.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, logMessage, ex);
}
return userAccount;
}

The error message that is created includes information about the database query that may contain sensitive information about the database or query logic. In this case, the error message will expose the table name and column names used in the database. This data could be used to simplify other attacks, such as SQL injection (CWE-89) to directly access the database.



Selected Observed Examples

Note: this is a curated list of examples for users to understand the variety of ways in which this weakness can be introduced. It is not a complete list of all CVEs that are related to this CWE entry.

Reference Description
verbose logging stores admin credentials in a world-readable log file
SSH password for private key stored in build log
Detection Methods
Method Details

Automated Static Analysis
Automated static analysis, commonly referred to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), can find some instances of this weakness by analyzing source code (or binary/compiled code) without having to execute it. Typically, this is done by building a model of data flow and control flow, then searching for potentially-vulnerable patterns that connect "sources" (origins of input) with "sinks" (destinations where the data interacts with external components, a lower layer such as the OS, etc.)

Effectiveness: High
Memberships
Section HelpThis MemberOf Relationships table shows additional CWE Categories and Views that reference this weakness as a member. This information is often useful in understanding where a weakness fits within the context of external information sources.
Nature Type ID Name
MemberOf CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic. 731 OWASP Top Ten 2004 Category A10 - Insecure Configuration Management
MemberOf CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic. 857 The CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java (2011) Chapter 14 - Input Output (FIO)
MemberOf CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic. 963 SFP Secondary Cluster: Exposed Data
MemberOf CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic. 1147 SEI CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java - Guidelines 13. Input Output (FIO)
MemberOf CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic. 1355 OWASP Top Ten 2021 Category A09:2021 - Security Logging and Monitoring Failures
MemberOf CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic. 1417 Comprehensive Categorization: Sensitive Information Exposure
Vulnerability Mapping Notes
Usage ALLOWED
(this CWE ID may be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities)
Reason Acceptable-Use

Rationale

This CWE entry is at the Base level of abstraction, which is a preferred level of abstraction for mapping to the root causes of vulnerabilities.

Comments

Carefully read both the name and description to ensure that this mapping is an appropriate fit. Do not try to 'force' a mapping to a lower-level Base/Variant simply to comply with this preferred level of abstraction.
Taxonomy Mappings
Mapped Taxonomy Name Node ID Fit Mapped Node Name
The CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java (2011) FIO13-J Do not log sensitive information outside a trust boundary
Software Fault Patterns SFP23 Exposed Data
Content History
Submissions
Submission Date Submitter Organization
2006年07月19日
(CWE Draft 3, 2006年07月19日) 		Anonymous Tool Vendor (under NDA)
Contributions
Contribution Date Contributor Organization
2009年07月15日 Fortify Software
Portions of Mitigations, Consequences and Description derived from content submitted by Fortify Software.
2024年10月14日
(CWE 4.16, 2024年11月19日) 		Abhi Balakrishnan
Provided diagram to improve CWE usability
Modifications
Modification Date Modifier Organization
2024年11月19日
(CWE 4.16, 2024年11月19日) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Common_Consequences, Description, Diagram
2023年10月26日 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Demonstrative_Examples, Observed_Examples
2023年06月29日 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Mapping_Notes
2023年04月27日 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Detection_Factors, Relationships
2021年10月28日 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships
2020年02月24日 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Name, Relationships, Type
2019年09月19日 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Demonstrative_Examples, Observed_Examples
2019年06月20日 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Name, Relationships
2019年01月03日 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
2018年03月27日 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Description, Potential_Mitigations, Relationships
2017年11月08日 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Modes_of_Introduction, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
2015年12月07日 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships
2014年07月30日 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
2014年02月18日 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Demonstrative_Examples
2012年05月11日 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Related_Attack_Patterns, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
2011年06月01日 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Common_Consequences, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
2011年03月29日 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Name
2009年07月27日 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Common_Consequences, Description, Likelihood_of_Exploit, Potential_Mitigations
2009年03月10日 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships
2008年09月08日 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
2008年07月01日 Eric Dalci Cigital
updated Potential_Mitigations, Time_of_Introduction
2008年07月01日 Sean Eidemiller Cigital
added/updated demonstrative examples
Previous Entry Names
Change Date Previous Entry Name
2011年03月29日 Information Leak Through Log Files
2019年06月20日 Information Exposure Through Log Files
2020年02月24日 Inclusion of Sensitive Information in Log Files
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Page Last Updated: September 09, 2025

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