majiayu000 Security Checklist
Comprehensive security review checklist for new features and changes.
When to Use
- Before shipping any feature that handles user data
- When implementing authentication or authorization
- When adding new API endpoints
- When integrating third-party services
- During code review for security-sensitive changes
Used By
- Security Engineer (primary owner)
- Full-Stack Engineer (implementation)
- Backend Engineer (API security)
- DevOps Engineer (infrastructure security)
Security Review Template
# Security Review: [Feature/Change Name]
**Reviewer**: [Name]
**Date**: [Date]
**Status**: In Progress | Approved | Needs Changes
---
## Overview
### Feature Description
[Brief description of the feature]
### Data Handled
- [ ] PII (Personal Identifiable Information)
- [ ] Financial data
- [ ] Authentication credentials
- [ ] User-generated content
- [ ] None of the above
### Risk Level
- [ ] High (handles sensitive data, authentication, payments)
- [ ] Medium (user data, API endpoints)
- [ ] Low (display only, no data mutation)
---
## Authentication & Authorization
### Authentication
- [ ] Authentication required for all protected endpoints
- [ ] Session management is secure (httpOnly, secure, sameSite)
- [ ] Token expiration is appropriate
- [ ] Logout properly invalidates session
- [ ] No authentication bypass possible
### Authorization
- [ ] Authorization checked on every request
- [ ] Users can only access their own data
- [ ] Admin functions properly protected
- [ ] Role/permission checks in place
- [ ] No IDOR (Insecure Direct Object Reference) vulnerabilities
### Multi-Factor Authentication (if applicable)
- [ ] MFA enforced for sensitive operations
- [ ] MFA bypass not possible
- [ ] Recovery codes handled securely
---
## Input Validation
### Data Validation
- [ ] All user input validated on server side
- [ ] Input type checked (string, number, etc.)
- [ ] Input length limited appropriately
- [ ] Input format validated (email, URL, etc.)
- [ ] Allowlists preferred over blocklists
### SQL Injection
- [ ] Parameterized queries used (no string concatenation)
- [ ] ORM used correctly
- [ ] Raw queries reviewed for injection
### XSS (Cross-Site Scripting)
- [ ] Output encoded for context (HTML, JS, URL, CSS)
- [ ] User content sanitized before display
- [ ] Content Security Policy configured
- [ ] No dangerous `innerHTML` or `dangerouslySetInnerHTML`
### Command Injection
- [ ] No user input passed to shell commands
- [ ] If necessary, input strictly validated
- [ ] Parameterized execution used
---
## Data Protection
### Data at Rest
- [ ] Sensitive data encrypted in database
- [ ] Encryption keys properly managed
- [ ] PII minimized (don't store what you don't need)
- [ ] Data classified and tagged
### Data in Transit
- [ ] HTTPS enforced everywhere
- [ ] TLS 1.2+ required
- [ ] HSTS enabled
- [ ] Secure cookies (httpOnly, secure, sameSite)
### Data Handling
- [ ] Sensitive data not logged
- [ ] Error messages don't expose internal details
- [ ] Data scrubbed from error reports
- [ ] Secure data deletion implemented
---
## API Security
### Endpoint Security
- [ ] Rate limiting implemented
- [ ] Request size limits set
- [ ] Timeout configured
- [ ] CORS properly configured
### Request Validation
- [ ] Schema validation on all inputs
- [ ] Unexpected fields rejected or ignored
- [ ] Content-type verified
- [ ] File upload restrictions in place
### Response Security
- [ ] Sensitive data not in responses
- [ ] Error codes don't leak information
- [ ] Consistent error format
- [ ] No stack traces in production
---
## Third-Party Security
### Dependencies
- [ ] Dependencies scanned for vulnerabilities
- [ ] Dependencies from trusted sources
- [ ] Dependencies up to date
- [ ] Lock file used (package-lock.json, etc.)
### Integrations
- [ ] Third-party credentials properly managed
- [ ] API keys not in code
- [ ] Webhook signatures verified
- [ ] Third-party responses validated
---
## Infrastructure Security
### Secrets Management
- [ ] No secrets in code
- [ ] Secrets in environment variables or secret manager
- [ ] Secrets rotated regularly
- [ ] Access to secrets logged
### Security Headers
- [ ] Content-Security-Policy
- [ ] X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
- [ ] X-Frame-Options or CSP frame-ancestors
- [ ] Referrer-Policy
- [ ] Permissions-Policy
- [ ] Strict-Transport-Security
### Error Handling
- [ ] Generic error pages in production
- [ ] No stack traces exposed
- [ ] Errors logged server-side
- [ ] Monitoring for unusual error patterns
---
## Logging & Monitoring
### Security Logging
- [ ] Authentication attempts logged
- [ ] Authorization failures logged
- [ ] Sensitive operations logged
- [ ] Logs don't contain sensitive data
- [ ] Log integrity protected
### Monitoring
- [ ] Alerts for suspicious activity
- [ ] Failed login monitoring
- [ ] Rate limit triggers monitored
- [ ] Error rate monitoring
---
## Threat Model
### Assets
[What data/functionality are we protecting?]
### Threat Actors
- [ ] Anonymous attackers
- [ ] Authenticated users (privilege escalation)
- [ ] Malicious insiders
- [ ] Automated bots/scrapers
### Attack Vectors
| Threat | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation |
|--------|------------|--------|------------|
| [Threat 1] | H/M/L | H/M/L | [Control] |
| [Threat 2] | H/M/L | H/M/L | [Control] |
### Residual Risks
[Risks that are accepted with justification]
---
## Findings
### Critical (Must Fix)
- [ ] [Finding 1]
- [ ] [Finding 2]
### High (Should Fix)
- [ ] [Finding 1]
- [ ] [Finding 2]
### Medium (Recommend)
- [ ] [Finding 1]
### Informational
- [Note 1]
---
## Sign-Off
| Role | Name | Date | Status |
|------|------|------|--------|
| Security | | | [ ] Approved |
| Dev Lead | | | [ ] Acknowledged |
OWASP Top 10 Quick Reference
1. Broken Access Control
- Enforce access control on server
- Deny by default
- Verify ownership of resources
2. Cryptographic Failures
- Encrypt sensitive data
- Use strong algorithms
- Manage keys securely
3. Injection
- Use parameterized queries
- Validate and sanitize input
- Escape output for context
4. Insecure Design
- Threat model new features
- Defense in depth
- Secure defaults
5. Security Misconfiguration
- Disable unnecessary features
- Secure default configs
- Remove default credentials
6. Vulnerable Components
- Scan dependencies
- Keep updated
- Monitor for vulnerabilities
7. Authentication Failures
- Strong password requirements
- Secure session management
- Multi-factor authentication
8. Software/Data Integrity Failures
- Verify dependencies
- Sign releases
- Secure CI/CD
9. Security Logging Failures
- Log security events
- Protect log integrity
- Monitor for anomalies
10. Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
- Validate URLs
- Use allowlists
- Limit outbound requests
Quick Security Checks
Before Every PR
- No secrets in code
- Input validation present
- Auth checks in place
- No obvious injection vectors
Before Every Release
- Dependency scan clean
- Security headers configured
- Authentication tested
- Authorization tested
Quarterly
- Full security review
- Penetration testing
- Dependency update
- Access review