Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-212

Allowed

Improper Removal of Sensitive Information Before Storage or Transfer

Abstraction: Base · Status: Incomplete

API response cwe.mitre.org

The product stores, transfers, or shares a resource that contains sensitive information, but it does not properly remove that information before the product makes the resource available to unauthorized actors.

161 vulnerabilities reference this CWE, most recent first.

GHSA-XRJ7-V4X4-74HR

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-02-18 21:31 – Updated: 2026-02-18 21:31
VLAI
Details

A flaw was found in QEMU in the uefi-vars virtual device. When the guest writes to register UEFI_VARS_REG_BUFFER_SIZE, the .write callback uefi_vars_write is invoked. The function allocates a heap buffer without zeroing the memory, leaving the buffer filled with residual data from prior allocations. When the guest later reads from register UEFI_VARS_REG_PIO_BUFFER_TRANSFER, the .read callback uefi_vars_read returns leftover metadata or other sensitive process memory from the previously allocated buffer, leading to an information disclosure vulnerability.

Severity
3.3 (Low)
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
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{
  "affected": [],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2025-8860"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-212"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": false,
    "github_reviewed_at": null,
    "nvd_published_at": "2026-02-18T21:16:22Z",
    "severity": "LOW"
  },
  "details": "A flaw was found in QEMU in the uefi-vars virtual device. When the guest writes to register UEFI_VARS_REG_BUFFER_SIZE, the .write callback `uefi_vars_write` is invoked. The function allocates a heap buffer without zeroing the memory, leaving the buffer filled with residual data from prior allocations. When the guest later reads from register UEFI_VARS_REG_PIO_BUFFER_TRANSFER, the .read callback `uefi_vars_read` returns leftover metadata or other sensitive process memory from the previously allocated buffer, leading to an information disclosure vulnerability.",
  "id": "GHSA-xrj7-v4x4-74hr",
  "modified": "2026-02-18T21:31:23Z",
  "published": "2026-02-18T21:31:23Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-8860"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-8860"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2387588"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ]
}
Mitigation
Requirements

Clearly specify which information should be regarded as private or sensitive, and require that the product offers functionality that allows the user to cleanse the sensitive information from the resource before it is published or exported to other parties.

Mitigation MIT-46
Architecture and Design

Strategy: Separation of Privilege

  • Compartmentalize the system to have "safe" areas where trust boundaries can be unambiguously drawn. Do not allow sensitive data to go outside of the trust boundary and always be careful when interfacing with a compartment outside of the safe area.
  • Ensure that appropriate compartmentalization is built into the system design, and the compartmentalization allows for and reinforces privilege separation functionality. Architects and designers should rely on the principle of least privilege to decide the appropriate time to use privileges and the time to drop privileges.
Mitigation MIT-57
Implementation Operation

Strategy: Attack Surface Reduction

  • Some tools can automatically analyze documents to redact, strip, or "sanitize" private information, although some human review might be necessary. Tools may vary in terms of which document formats can be processed.
  • When calling an external program to automatically generate or convert documents, invoke the program with any available options that avoid generating sensitive metadata. Some formats have well-defined fields that could contain private data, such as Exchangeable image file format (Exif), which can contain potentially sensitive metadata such as geolocation, date, and time [REF-1515] [REF-1516].
Mitigation MIT-33
Implementation

Strategy: Attack Surface Reduction

Use naming conventions and strong types to make it easier to spot when sensitive data is being used. When creating structures, objects, or other complex entities, separate the sensitive and non-sensitive data as much as possible.

Mitigation
Implementation

Avoid errors related to improper resource shutdown or release (CWE-404), which may leave the sensitive data within the resource if it is in an incomplete state.

CAPEC-168: Windows ::DATA Alternate Data Stream

An attacker exploits the functionality of Microsoft NTFS Alternate Data Streams (ADS) to undermine system security. ADS allows multiple "files" to be stored in one directory entry referenced as filename:streamname. One or more alternate data streams may be stored in any file or directory. Normal Microsoft utilities do not show the presence of an ADS stream attached to a file. The additional space for the ADS is not recorded in the displayed file size. The additional space for ADS is accounted for in the used space on the volume. An ADS can be any type of file. ADS are copied by standard Microsoft utilities between NTFS volumes. ADS can be used by an attacker or intruder to hide tools, scripts, and data from detection by normal system utilities. Many anti-virus programs do not check for or scan ADS. Windows Vista does have a switch (-R) on the command line DIR command that will display alternate streams.

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