Introduction
Thousands of websites are compromised daily. Most attacks exploit simple, avoidable mistakes. OWASP publishes a list of the top 10 web security vulnerabilities.
Key Vulnerabilities and Fixes
1. SQL Injection
Always use Eloquent or parameterized queries. Never concatenate user input directly into SQL strings.
2. XSS (Cross-Site Scripting)
Use Blade double curly braces {{ }} — never {!! !!} for unverified user input.
3. CSRF
Laravel handles this automatically. Always include @csrf in every form.
4. Broken Authentication
Use bcrypt for passwords (Laravel default), add rate limiting on login, always use HTTPS.
5. Sensitive Data Exposure
Store secrets in .env, never commit it to Git, set APP_DEBUG=false in production.
6. Mass Assignment
Always use $fillable to explicitly whitelist allowed fields instead of $guarded = [].