← McDonald's

2025 McHire/Paradox.ai breach — 64M job applicant records

2025 64.0M records affected Share on X

Data compromised

Names, emails, phone numbers, resumes, chat transcripts, personality test responses

Technical writeup

Security researchers discovered catastrophic flaws in McDonald's AI hiring platform McHire (powered by Paradox.ai's Olivia chatbot). An administrator account used default password '123456' with no MFA. IDOR vulnerability allowed access to applicant records by manipulating URL IDs. Exposed: names, emails, phone numbers, resumes, chat transcripts, personality test responses. ~90% of franchises using McHire potentially affected.

Root cause

Weak default credentials; IDOR vulnerability

References