Documented incidentDisclosed 2025-07-01Paradox.ai (McHire)Research paper

Default password and an IDOR in McDonald's AI hiring chatbot platform expose data on 64 million applicants (2025)

McHire, the chatbot recruiting platform used by most McDonald's franchisees, lets applicants chat with a bot named Olivia, built by Paradox.ai, that collects personal information.

What happened

  • Researchers found the restaurant administration interface accepted the default credentials 123456:123456, and an internal API had an insecure direct object reference that returned any applicant's contacts and chats.Would you like an IDOR with that? Leaking 64 million McDonald's job applications
  • Together these exposed personal data of more than 64 million applicants; Paradox.ai confirmed the issues were resolved on July 1, 2025.Would you like an IDOR with that? Leaking 64 million McDonald's job applications

The failure pattern

Cross-tenant access through a caller-controlled identifierThe server trusts an account, tenant or object ID sent by the client, so changing a number reveals someone else's data.How to prevent it Weak or phishable authentication on a privileged pathA password, an SMS code or a help-desk reset is all that stands between an attacker and admin access.How to prevent it
Watch the pattern: Cross-tenant access through a caller-controlled identifier

Safeguards that address it

CollectSEA's engineering analysis of what would have prevented or contained this failure.

  • Remove default and test accounts before productionBlock default credentials, require MFA for administrative interfaces and audit for dormant test accounts.
  • Authorize every object access on the serverCheck that the caller may access the specific record requested, not only that the caller is signed in.

Related standards

CollectSEA's mapping through this incident's failure pattern; not an official determination by the standards bodies.

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