What is CWE-312?
The product stores sensitive information in cleartext within a resource that might be accessible to another control sphere.
CWE-312 is a base-level weakness in MITRE’s Common Weakness Enumeration. Applicable platforms: Language: Not Language-Specific; Technology: Cloud Computing; Technology: ICS/OT; Technology: Mobile.
Source: MITRE CWE (CWE-312 definition, reproduced verbatim). Counts and linkage below are Threadlinqs data.
Consequences
- Confidentiality — Read Application Data. An attacker with access to the system could read sensitive information stored in cleartext (i.e., unencrypted). Even if the information is encoded in a way that is not human-readable, certain techniques could determine which encoding is being used, then decode the information.
Source: MITRE CWE, common consequences.
How CWE-312 is exploited in the wild
Threadlinqs maps 4 CVEs to CWE-312, published between 2023-04-19 and 2026-08-05. 1 is listed in CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, the authoritative record of exploitation in the wild. By CVSS v3 severity the set splits into 2 high, 1 medium. The highest EPSS score in the set is 3.4% (CVE-2023-22894), the modelled probability of exploitation in the next 30 days. 18 tracked threats reference CWE-312 directly or through a CVE it covers; the most recent is “Chinese Government-linked Actors Enabled by Integrity Technology Group Combine Automated and Hands-on Hacking Tools to Steal Sensitive Data (CISA AA26-281A)” (2026-10-08). Affected products concentrate in Cisco (1), Microsoft (1), StrongDM (1).
Vulnerabilities (CVEs)
All 4 CVEs mapped to CWE-312, CISA KEV first, then by CVSS score.
- CVE-2023-22894 — CISA KEV · CVSS 7.2 high · EPSS 3.4% · published 2023-04-19
- CVE-2026-20312 — CVSS 8.8 high · EPSS 0.3% · published 2026-08-05
- CVE-2026-23655 — CVSS 6.5 medium · EPSS 1.0% · published 2026-02-10
- CVE-2026-4387 — EPSS 0.1% · published 2026-05-29
Affected vendors
Threat activity
18 tracked threats cite CWE-312:
- Chinese Government-linked Actors Enabled by Integrity Technology Group Combine Automated and Hands-on Hacking Tools to Steal Sensitive Data (CISA AA26-281A)HIGH
- Personal GitHub Repositories Are a Major Blind Spot for Corporate Secret Leaks (Wiz Research)MEDIUM
- Multiple Critical Vulnerabilities in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Software (CVE-2026-20303, CVE-2026-20304, CVE-2026-20310, CVE-2026-20312, CVE-2026-20313)CRITICAL
- Pass-ta-Key Attacks Let Malware Hijack Google Password Manager Synchronized Passkeys (Chrome on Windows)HIGH
- Microsoft shortens NuGet.org API key lifetimes to 30 days for supply-chain hardening (effective Aug 17, 2026)MEDIUM
- Pass-ta-key: Novel Attack Surface in Google Password Manager Synced Passkey AuthenticationCRITICAL
- Dolphin X Windows Infostealer Adds AI-Driven Victim Profiling and Polymorphic PanelHIGH
- CISA, NSA, JPCERT/CC, NCSC-NL and NCSC-UK Publish Joint Guidance: Establishing a Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure Program to Work With Security Researchers
- JADEPUFFER: First End-to-End Agentic Ransomware Attack Exploiting Langflow (CVE-2025-3248) and Nacos (CVE-2021-29441)CRITICAL
- Alleged Huntress Insider Leaked Law Enforcement Communications to DevMan Ransomware Operation (DragonForce/Conti Lineage)HIGH
- Claude Code MCP Traffic Hijack via Malicious npm postinstall — ~/.claude.json Tampering Proxies MCP Endpoints to Steal Persistent OAuth Bearer Tokens (Mitiga Labs PoC)HIGH
- StrongDM Desktop CVE-2026-4387 — Plaintext Session State (JWT + Asymmetric Keypair) Enables Credential-less Cross-Host Session HijackHIGH
- SolyxImmortal Python Infostealer — Chromium/Firefox Credential & Cookie Theft, Keylogging, Discord Webhook Exfiltration (Turkish-Speaking Actor)HIGH
- Apple iOS/iPadOS Notification Services Data Retention Zero-Day (CVE-2026-28950) — Exploited In-The-Wild for Forensic Extraction of Signal MessagesHIGH
- Storm Infostealer (v0.0.2.0 Gunnar): Server-Side Browser Decryption Bypasses Chrome App-Bound Encryption and Hijacks MFA-Protected SaaS SessionsHIGH
- February 2026 Patch Tuesday: Six Zero-Days Among 59 CVEsCRITICAL
- February 2026 Patch Tuesday: Six Zero-Days Among 59 CVEs — CrowdStrike-Discovered RDP EoP Exploited Since December 2025CRITICAL
- Panera Bread Data Breach - 5.1 Million Accounts ExposedMEDIUM
Mitigations
- Implementation, System Configuration, Operation: When storing data in the cloud (e.g., S3 buckets, Azure blobs, Google Cloud Storage, etc.), use the provider's controls to encrypt the data at rest. [REF-1297] [REF-1299] [REF-1301]
- Implementation, System Configuration, Operation: In some systems/environments such as cloud, the use of "double encryption" (at both the software and hardware layer) might be required, and the developer might be solely responsible for both layers, instead of shared responsibility with the administrator of the broader system/environment.
Source: MITRE CWE, potential mitigations.
Detection methods (MITRE CWE)
- Automated Static Analysis (effectiveness: High): 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.)
Source: MITRE CWE, detection methods. Threadlinqs detection rules for the threats above are Blue tier and higher.