The product writes sensitive information to a log file.

What CVEs are caused by CWE-532?

742 recorded CVEs are attributed to CWE-532, including CVE-2023-21492, CVE-2025-24984, CVE-2026-49200. 2 are listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.

How do you prevent CWE-532?

Consider seriously the sensitivity of the information written into log files. Do not write secrets into the log files.

How is CWE-532 detected?

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.)

What are the consequences of CWE-532?

Exploiting CWE-532 can lead to: Read Application Data.

Is CWE-532 actively exploited?

Yes. 2 CWE-532 vulnerabilities are in CISA's KEV catalog of actively exploited flaws, out of 742 recorded CVEs.

CWE-532: Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File

RadicalNotion.AI

Code examples

Illustrative examples from MITRE showing how the weakness appears in code.

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

Vulnerable example

java

logger.info("Username: " + usernme + ", CCN: " + ccn);

This code stores location information about the current user:

Vulnerable example

java

...
locationClient = new LocationClient(this, this, this);

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.

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.

Vulnerable example

java

public BankAccount getUserBankAccount(String username, String accountNumber) {

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.

CWE-532: Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File

Overview

Real-world CVEs

Common consequences

How it happens

When it is introduced

How to prevent it

How to detect it

Automated Static Analysis

Code examples

Illustrative examples

Terminology & mappings

Mapped taxonomies

Attack patterns

Frequently asked questions

References

Stay ahead of CWE-532

Overview

Real-world CVEs

Common consequences

How it happens

When it is introduced

How to prevent it

How to detect it

Automated Static Analysis

Code examples

Illustrative examples

Related weaknesses

Parent

Terminology & mappings

Mapped taxonomies

Attack patterns

Frequently asked questions

References

Stay ahead of CWE-532