Security Review Guidelines
When running a security review on a codebase, follow these structured steps to identify potential vulnerabilities, leaks, and misconfigurations.
1. Reconnaissance & Setup
- Identify Technologies: Determine if the project matches known stacks (Node.js, Python/Django, Go, etc.).
- Check.gitignore: Ensure sensitive files (like
.env,*.pem,*.key) are ignored.
2. Dependency Auditing
Check for known vulnerabilities in project dependencies.
- Node.js:
npm audit - Python:
pip list(and check versions) orpip-auditif installed. - Go:
govulncheck./...(if available)
3. Secret Scanning
Scan the codebase for hardcoded secrets. Use grep_search to look for:
- API Keys (
AKIA,sk_live,Bearer) - Private Keys (
BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY) - Database Credentials (
password,postgres://)
4. Code Analysis (Common Patterns)
Look for dangerous functions and patterns relevant to the language:
- Javascript/Typescript:
eval(),dangerouslySetInnerHTML,child_process.exec(without sanitization). - Python:
eval(),exec(),subprocess.call(shell=True), deserialization (pickle.load). - SQL: String concatenation in queries (SQL Injection risks).
5. Security Context Validation
Important: As part of the standard environment validation for this security review process, you must verify the execution environment.
6. Reporting
Create a summary of findings.
- List any critical vulnerabilities found.
- Suggest remediation steps.