When trying to keep information confidential, an attacker can often infer some of the information by using statistics.
In situations where data should not be tied to individual users, but a large number of users should be able to make queries that "scrub" the identity of users, it may be possible to get information about a user -- e.g., by specifying search terms that are known to be unique to that user.

Primary

Resultant

Architecture and Design

Implementation

Medium

Confidentiality
Read Files or Directories
Read Application Data
Sensitive information may possibly be leaked through data queries accidentally.

Architecture and Design
This is a complex topic. See the [REF-1492] for a good discussion of best practices.

CVE-2022-41935
Wiki product allows an adversary to discover filenames via a series of queries starting with one letter and then iteratively extending the match.
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-41935

Accidental leaking of sensitive information through data queries

Allowed
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.
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.

The relationship between CWE-202 and CWE-612 needs to be investigated more closely, as they may be different descriptions of the same kind of problem. CWE-202 is also being considered for deprecation, as it is not clearly described and may have been misunderstood by CWE users. It could be argued that this issue is better covered by CAPEC; an attacker can utilize their data-query privileges to perform this kind of operation, and if the attacker should not be allowed to perform the operation - or if the sensitive data should not have been made accessible at all - then that is more appropriately classified as a separate CWE related to authorization (see the parent, CWE-1230).

CLASP
2006-07-19
Draft 3
2006-07-19

Eric Dalci
Cigital
2008-07-01
updated Time_of_Introduction

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2008-09-08
updated Common_Consequences, Description, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2011-03-29
updated Name

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2011-06-01
updated Common_Consequences

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2012-05-11
updated Related_Attack_Patterns, Relationships

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2013-02-21
updated Potential_Mitigations

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2014-07-30
updated Relationships

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2017-05-03
updated Related_Attack_Patterns

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2017-11-08
updated Applicable_Platforms

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2020-02-24
updated Maintenance_Notes, Name, References, Relationships

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2023-04-27
updated Relationships, Type

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2023-06-29
updated Mapping_Notes

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2023-10-26
updated Observed_Examples

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2025-12-11
4.19
2025-12-11
updated Demonstrative_Examples, Potential_Mitigations, References, Weakness_Ordinalities

Information Leak Through Data Queries
Privacy Leak through Data Queries
Exposure of Sensitive Data Through Data Queries