Executive Summary

What happens when sensitive financial dashboards are left wide open to the internet? CloudSEK’s SVigil, our industry-leading digital supply chain monitoring platform, recently uncovered an unauthenticated Apache Superset dashboard belonging to a vendor of a major financial institution.

This misconfiguration gave away far more than just graphs and charts. From borrower communication logs to state-wise debt allocation and outstanding loans worth over USD 110 million, the exposed data painted a complete picture of internal lending strategies. Without SVigil’s intervention, this silent leak could’ve escalated into a multi-crore financial disaster.

Read on to discover how a single exposed dashboard almost unraveled a major bank’s data fortress — and how SVigil’s vigilance saved the day.

The Discovery: One Click Away from Catastrophe

During routine scans across third-party digital assets, SVigil flagged an unusual anomaly — an open Apache Superset instance. No login prompt. No authentication barrier. Just pure access to one of the most critical data systems powering a major financial institution’s co-lending operations.

Upon investigation, SVigil confirmed that this dashboard was leaking sensitive loan data, internal lending workflows, borrower outreach metrics, and financial allocation details. Even more alarming? This vendor plays a key role in managing the bank’s digital lending and credit intelligence.

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Inside the Breach: What Was Exposed?

• Unsecured Superset Interface:
  
  • Apache Superset vulnerable to CVE-2023-27524.
  • Default SECRET_KEY and missing authentication controls.
• Loan & Financial Data in the Open:
  
  • Over 2.6 million allocated accounts.
  • USD 110 million in outstanding loans.
  • Approval, rejection, disbursement metrics.
  • State-wise loan distribution and EMI summaries. 
• Co-Lending & Strategy Dashboards:
  
  • Dashboards showing financial trends, partner performance, and borrower interactions.
  • Engagement and communication logs including SMS and voice delivery attempts.
• Raw Data Tables with PII:
  
  • Loan account numbers, product types, bucket classifications.
  • Communication status logs and contact tracking.

This wasn’t just data exposure — it was an invitation for threat actors to walk through the front door of a major bank’s data vault.

Samples of the Exposed Data:

• Snapshot of loan account details leaked

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• Snapshot of state-wise loan debt details leaked 

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• Snapshot of “Apache Superset dashboard of “the vendor””

Business Impact:

• Reputational Fallout:
  
  • Sensitive lending data in public hands could destroy customer and partner trust.
  • Media fallout and competitive leakage risks.
• Regulatory Backlash:
  
  • Violations of RBI, GDPR, and financial data protection norms.
  • Potential for penalties, fines, and mandatory audits.
• Operational Breakdown:
  
  • Loan servicing disruption.
  • Forced system audits and emergency patching.
• Borrower Privacy at Risk:
  
  • Account-level data may be used for scams, phishing, and financial fraud.

Recommendations: 

•  Upgrade Apache Superset:
  
  • Migrate to version 2.0.1+.
  • Replace default SECRET_KEY values with secure, random strings.
•  Enforce Authentication:
  
  • Disable public access entirely.
  • Implement user-based access controls and remove default admin credentials.
•  Restrict Access:
  
  • Deploy behind VPN or firewall.
  • Enable RBAC for sensitive dashboards.
• Monitor and Audit:
  
  • Enable detailed logging.
  • Monitor for unauthorized dashboard interactions or API calls.

The SVigil Advantage: Proactive Protection that Pays Off

This incident underscores the value of continuous vendor and third-party risk monitoring. SVigil caught what could’ve been one of the most significant leaks in the Indian BFSI tech ecosystem — all thanks to its real-time digital supply chain scanning.

By discovering the vulnerability before malicious actors did, SVigil gave the major financial institute the upper hand to act swiftly and secure their data.

In the world of digital trust, prevention isn’t just better — it’s priceless.

About CloudSEK
CloudSEK is a unified digital risk management platform that leverages AI and machine learning to deliver real-time threat intelligence, attack surface monitoring, and supply chain security across enterprises globally.

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