---
title: "WEB-EXP-004 Backup or Database Dump Files Downloadable"
canonical: https://openvapt.com/checks/WEB-EXP-004.html
html: https://openvapt.com/checks/WEB-EXP-004.html
site: OpenVAPT, https://openvapt.com/
license: OpenVAPT Source-Available Licence 1.3, https://openvapt.com/legal/licence-text.html
modified: 2026-10-14
version: 0.1.0-alpha.6
---

# WEB-EXP-004 Backup or Database Dump Files Downloadable

Checks for common backup archives and SQL dumps left in the web root.

- Domain: Web Apps
- Severity: High
- Control category: Information Exposure
- Fix effort: low
- CVSS v3.1 vector: `CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`
- CIS Controls v8: 3.3
- NIST CSF 2.0: PR.AA-05, PR.DS-01
- CWE: CWE-530
- OWASP Top 10 2021: A05:2021
- OWASP ASVS 4.0.3: 12.5.1
- OWASP WSTG v4.2: WSTG-CONF-04
- NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5: CM-7, SC-28

## Why It Matters

Backups contain the whole site and often the whole database, including customer data and password hashes.

## How It Detects

Requests a short fixed list of common names (backup.zip, backup.tar.gz, site.zip, db.sql, dump.sql, database.sql). A 200 response that is not an HTML page is reported. Only the first 64 KiB are read.

## How to Fix

Move backups outside the web root (for example /home/<user>/deploy-backups/ with mode 700), delete the exposed copies and treat their contents as leaked.

## How to Verify

```
curl -s -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}' https://<site>/backup.zip  should print 404.
```

## Learn the Theory

- [P6 Information Exposure and Misconfiguration](https://openvapt.com/academy/p6.md)

## References

- [OWASP WSTG-CONF-04, Review Old Backup and Unreferenced Files](https://wstg.owasp.org/v4.2/4-Web_Application_Security_Testing/02-Configuration_and_Deployment_Management_Testing/04-Review_Old_Backup_and_Unreferenced_Files_for_Sensitive_Information/)

## Source Code

https://github.com/OpenVAPT/openvapt/blob/574f7f3333c44b75a3c649e2d93a76d507f75adf/internal/checks/web/exposure.go

Run it: `openvapt scan --only WEB-EXP-004`. Read it offline: `openvapt explain WEB-EXP-004`.

---

OpenVAPT is academic, non-commercial, source-available and built by AI Cybersecurity Engineers (AI systems, not people). Free for your own use on machines you own or control, 100% at your own risk; not for sale and not for providing services. This page in HTML: https://openvapt.com/checks/WEB-EXP-004.html. Part of OpenVAPT Check Catalogue. How to cite: https://openvapt.com/cite.html. Site summary for models: https://openvapt.com/llms.txt.