Information Leak Through Directory Listing
Weakness ID: 548 (Weakness Variant)Status: Draft
+ Description

Description Summary

A directory listing is inappropriately exposed, yielding potentially sensitive information to attackers.

Extended Description

A directory listing provides an attacker with the complete index of all the resources located inside of the directory. The specific risks and consequences vary depending on which files are listed and accessible.

+ Time of Introduction
  • Implementation
  • Operation
+ Common Consequences
ScopeEffect
Confidentiality

Exposing the contents of a directory can lead to an attacker gaining access to source code or providing useful information for the attacker to devise exploits, such as creation times of files or any information that may be encoded in file names. The directory listing may also compromise private or confidential data.

+ Potential Mitigations

Recommendations include restricting access to important directories or files by adopting a need to know requirement for both the document and server root, and turning off features such as Automatic Directory Listings that could expose private files and provide information that could be utilized by an attacker when formulating or conducting an attack.

+ Relationships
NatureTypeIDNameView(s) this relationship pertains toView(s)
ChildOfWeakness BaseWeakness Base538File and Directory Information Exposure
Development Concepts (primary)699
Research Concepts (primary)1000
ChildOfWeakness BaseWeakness Base552Files or Directories Accessible to External Parties
Research Concepts1000
ChildOfCategoryCategory731OWASP Top Ten 2004 Category A10 - Insecure Configuration Management
Weaknesses in OWASP Top Ten (2004) (primary)711
+ Taxonomy Mappings
Mapped Taxonomy NameNode IDFitMapped Node Name
Anonymous Tool Vendor (under NDA)
OWASP Top Ten 2004A10CWE More SpecificInsecure Configuration Management
WASC16Directory Indexing
+ Content History
Submissions
Submission DateSubmitterOrganizationSource
Anonymous Tool Vendor (under NDA)Externally Mined
Modifications
Modification DateModifierOrganizationSource
2008-07-01Eric DalciCigitalExternal
updated Time of Introduction
2008-08-15VeracodeExternal
Suggested OWASP Top Ten 2004 mapping
2008-09-08CWE Content TeamMITREInternal
updated Relationships, Other Notes, Taxonomy Mappings
2008-10-14CWE Content TeamMITREInternal
updated Other Notes
2009-10-29CWE Content TeamMITREInternal
updated Description, Other Notes
2009-12-28CWE Content TeamMITREInternal
updated Common Consequences, Description
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