Information disclosure on debug page

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This exercise was completed as part of a PortSwigger Web Security Academy lab focused on information disclosure through exposed debug endpoints. The goal of the lab was to identify hidden resources on the target application and retrieve a secret value exposed through a debug interface.

The scenario simulates a real-world misconfiguration where development or debugging features are accidentally left enabled in a production environment. Such features often expose sensitive system information, including environment variables, configuration data, and internal application details that should never be publicly accessible.

Reconnaissance and Hidden Directory Discovery

The first step involved performing directory enumeration against the target application to identify hidden or unlinked paths. Since the vulnerable endpoint was not visible through normal navigation, content discovery techniques were required.

During brute-force enumeration, the directory /cgi-bin was discovered. This directory is commonly associated with legacy server-side script execution environments and is often used in misconfigured or outdated web server setups. Its presence indicated a potential attack surface for further investigation.

Accessing /cgi-bin revealed additional endpoints, including a debug-related file named:

/cgi-bin/phpinfo.php

Discovery of phpinfo Page

Navigating to /cgi-bin/phpinfo.php exposed a standard PHP information page generated using the phpinfo() function. This page is typically used for debugging and displays detailed configuration information about the PHP environment.

However, in production environments, exposing such a page is considered a critical security risk because it leaks sensitive internal system data.

The page contained extensive information, including:

  • PHP version details
  • Server environment configuration
  • Loaded modules
  • System paths
  • Environment variables

Among these details, a sensitive environment variable was identified containing a secret key value.

Extraction of Sensitive Information

Within the exposed phpinfo() output, the environment variables section revealed a secret key stored in plaintext. This value was not protected or restricted, allowing direct access through the browser.

The exposed variable represented sensitive application-level configuration data that could potentially be used for authentication bypass, session manipulation, or cryptographic operations depending on the application’s design.

In the context of this lab, the exposed secret key was the required value needed to complete the challenge.

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