Security Practices

Security Practices

Security patterns and best practices. Updated by the Reflect skill.

Last Updated

2025-01-28

Input Validation

General Rules

• NEVER trust user input
• Validate on both client AND server
• Sanitize output to prevent XSS
• Use parameterized queries to prevent SQL injection

Laravel Validation

// Use Form Request classes
class StoreUserRequest extends FormRequest
{
    public function rules(): array
    {
        return [
            'email' => 'required|email|unique:users',
            'password' => 'required|min:8|confirmed',
        ];
    }
}

TypeScript Validation

// Use zod or similar for runtime validation
import { z } from 'zod'

const userSchema = z.object({
  email: z.string().email(),
  password: z.string().min(8),
})

Authentication

Laravel

// Always check authentication
public function __construct()
{
    $this->middleware('auth');
}

// Use Gates/Policies for authorization
Gate::authorize('update', $user);

Next.js

// Middleware for route protection
export async function middleware(request: NextRequest) {
  const token = request.cookies.get('token')
  if (!token) return NextResponse.redirect('/login')
}

Secrets Management

Rules

• Never commit secrets to Git
• Use environment variables: ${SECRET_NAME}
• Add .env files to .gitignore

Laravel

// Use env() with default values
$apiKey = env('API_KEY', 'default-value');

// Never use env() in production config (use config:cache)
config('services.api.key')

Next.js

// Server-side: use process.env
const apiKey = process.env.API_KEY

// Client-side: use NEXT_PUBLIC_ prefix
const publicUrl = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL

Docker Security

Mandatory Requirements

1. Non-Root Users

   user: "1000:1000"  # Run as non-root
   

2. Security Options

   security_opt:
     - no-new-privileges:true
   

3. No Hardcoded Secrets

   environment:
     - DB_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}  # From .env
   

4. Resource Limits

   deploy:
     resources:
       limits:
         cpus: '2'
         memory: 1G
   

Security Scanning

Trivy (Recommended):

# Scan image
trivy image <image-name>

# Scan with severity filter
trivy image --severity HIGH,CRITICAL <image-name>

Docker Scout:

docker scout cves <image-name>

Common Vulnerabilities

SQL Injection

// ❌ BAD
DB::select("SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = $id");

// ✅ GOOD
DB::select('SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ?', [$id]);
// Or
User::where('id', $id)->first();

XSS

<!-- ❌ BAD -->
<div v-html="userInput"></div>

<!-- ✅ GOOD -->
<div>{{ userInput }}</div>

CSRF

// Laravel: CSRF token is automatic in forms
@csrf

// Or include in AJAX headers
<meta name="csrf-token" content="{{ csrf_token() }}">

Learned Patterns

This section grows as the Reflect skill learns from sessions

Session 2025-01-28

• Learned: Always validate on server, never trust client validation
• Learned: Use prepared statements, never concatenate SQL
• Learned: Sanitize all user input before display