Guess who left a database wide open, exposing chat logs, API keys, and more? Yup, DeepSeek

China-based AI biz DeepSeek may have developed competitive, cost-efficient generative models, but its cybersecurity chops are another story. Wiz, a New York-based infosec house, says that shortly after the DeepSeek R1 model gained widespread attention, it began investigating the machine-learning outfit's security posture. What Wiz found is that DeepSeek – which not only develops and distributes trained openly available models but also provides online access to those neural networks in the cloud – did not secure the database infrastructure of those services. That means conversations with the online DeepSeek chatbot, and more data besides, were accessible from the public internet with no password required. This database contained a significant volume of chat history, backend data and sensitive information "Within minutes, we found a publicly accessible ClickHouse database linked to DeepSeek, completely open and unauthenticated, exposing sensitive data," the firm said in an advisory Wednesday. "It was hosted at oauth2callback.deepseek.com:9000 and dev.deepseek.com:9000. "This database contained a significant volume of chat history, backend data and sensitive information, including log streams, API Secrets, and operational details." To make matters worse, Wiz said, the exposure allowed for full control of the database and potential privilege escalation within the DeepSeek environment, without any authentication or barrier to external access. Using ClickHouse's HTTP interface, sec...