What CVEs are caused by CWE-538?

80 recorded CVEs are attributed to CWE-538, including CVE-2023-28444, CVE-2025-12059, CVE-2024-22433.

What are the consequences of CWE-538?

Exploiting CWE-538 can lead to: Read Files or Directories.

Is CWE-538 actively exploited?

80 recorded CVEs are caused by CWE-538; none are currently in CISA's KEV catalog of actively exploited flaws.

Base weakness

Draft

CWE-538: Insertion of Sensitive Information into Externally-Accessible File or Directory

The product places sensitive information into files or directories that are accessible to actors who are allowed to have access to the files, but not to the sensitive information.

Last updated May 1, 2026

Recorded CVEs

With this primary weakness

KEVs

In the CISA KEV catalog

Not rated

Likelihood of exploit

Per MITRE

Base

Abstraction

MITRE classification

Overview

CWE-538 (Insertion of Sensitive Information into Externally-Accessible File or Directory) is a base-level software weakness catalogued by MITRE in the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE). It describes a recurring type of mistake that can lead to exploitable security vulnerabilities.

Real-world CVEs

80 recorded CVEs are caused by CWE-538 (Insertion of Sensitive Information into Externally-Accessible File or Directory). The highest-severity and most recent are shown first. 25 new CWE-538 CVEs have been recorded so far in 2026 (22 in 2025).

Showing 12 of 80 recorded CWE-538 CVEs. Track new ones as they are published and get AI-written analysis and fixes.

Monitor CWE-538 vulnerabilities

Common consequences

What can happen when CWE-538 is exploited.

Read Files or Directories

Affects: Confidentiality

How it happens

When it is introduced

Typically introduced during these phases of the software lifecycle.

Implementation

Operation

How to prevent it

Practical mitigations for CWE-538, grouped by where in the lifecycle they apply.

Architecture and Design

Operation

System Configuration

Do not expose file and directory information to the user.

How to detect it

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

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);

Illustrative examples

Real CVEs that MITRE cites as examples of this weakness.

CVE-2018-1999036 — SSH password for private key stored in build log

Attack patterns

CAPEC attack patterns that exploit this weakness.

CAPEC-95: WSDL Scanning

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about CWE-538.

What is CWE-538?: The product places sensitive information into files or directories that are accessible to actors who are allowed to have access to the files, but not to the sensitive information.
What CVEs are caused by CWE-538?: 80 recorded CVEs are attributed to CWE-538, including CVE-2023-28444, CVE-2025-12059, CVE-2024-22433.
How do you prevent CWE-538?: Do not expose file and directory information to the user.
How is CWE-538 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-538?: Exploiting CWE-538 can lead to: Read Files or Directories.
Is CWE-538 actively exploited?: 80 recorded CVEs are caused by CWE-538; none are currently in CISA's KEV catalog of actively exploited flaws.

References

Weakness data is sourced from the MITRE CWE catalog (v4.20). CVE associations are aggregated and kept current by RadicalNotion.AI.

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