Laravel Security Guide: Real-World Problems and Practical Fixes

Laravel is one of the most popular PHP frameworks — but when misconfigured, it can expose very sensitive data.
Here are the most common real-world Laravel security problems I’ve seen, and how to fix them properly.

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🧩 Problem #1 — .env File Is Publicly Accessible

Why this is very bad

If someone can open:

https://yourdomain.com/.env

They now have:

✔ DB credentials
✔ Mail passwords
✔ API Keys
✔ APP_KEY

That’s game over.

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✅ Fix

Make sure your document root is:

/public

Not the project root.

Example NGINX config:

root /var/www/project/public;

Restart NGINX after editing.

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🧩 Problem #2 — APP_DEBUG is Enabled in Production

When debug mode is on:

APP_DEBUG=true

Laravel exposes:

✔ stack traces
✔ SQL queries
✔ environment variables
✔ file paths

This is hacker gold.

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✅ Fix

In .env

APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false

Also clear config cache:

php artisan config:clear
php artisan config:cache

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🧩 Problem #3 — APP_KEY is Missing or Default

If APP_KEY isn’t set properly, encryption breaks.

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✅ Fix — Generate a Secure Key

php artisan key:generate

Then cache:

php artisan config:cache

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🧩 Problem #4 — Storage Files Are Not Accessible Publicly

Users upload images — but they don’t display.

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✅ Fix — Link Storage to Public

php artisan storage:link

Then ensure permissions:

chown -R www-data:www-data storage bootstrap/cache

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🧩 Problem #5 — Slow Performance Due to Unoptimized Config

Production should always use cached config.

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✅ Fix

php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache

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🧩 Problem #6 — Laravel Queue Workers Stop After Reboot

Users complain emails don’t send.
Jobs stop processing after restart.

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✅ Fix — Use Supervisor

Install:

sudo apt install supervisor

Create config:

/etc/supervisor/conf.d/laravel-worker.conf

Add:

[program:laravel-worker]
command=php /var/www/project/artisan queue:work
autostart=true
autorestart=true
redirect_stderr=true
stdout_logfile=/var/log/laravel-worker.log

Then:

sudo supervisorctl reread
sudo supervisorctl update
sudo supervisorctl start laravel-worker:*

Now queues restart automatically.

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🧩 Problem #7 — CSRF Vulnerabilities

Forms without CSRF protection = danger.

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✅ Fix

Always use:

@csrf

in Blade forms.

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🧩 Problem #8 — Validation Missing

Never trust input.

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✅ Fix Example

$request->validate([
   'email' => 'required|email',
   'password' => 'required|min:8'
]);

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🧩 Problem #9 — Logs Growing Until Disk Full

Laravel logs can explode in size.

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✅ Fix — Rotate Logs

Use logrotate.

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🧩 Problem #10 — File Permissions Wrong

Recommended:

storage — writable
bootstrap/cache — writable

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Final Laravel Security Checklist

✔ .env NOT public
✔ APP_DEBUG disabled
✔ APP_KEY set
✔ Storage linked
✔ CSRF enabled
✔ Validation everywhere
✔ Queues supervised
✔ Logs rotated
✔ HTTPS enabled
✔ Backups running

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🚀 Tutorial 2 — Node.js Security & Deployment Problem-Solving Guide

🔹 Title

Node.js Security Guide: Real-World Problems and Production Fixes for Web Developers

🔹 URL Slug

nodejs-production-security-problem-solving-guide

🔹 Meta Description

A real-world Node.js production security guide for web developers. Learn how to fix common Node.js security issues including environment leaks, rate-limiting, CORS misuse, JWT security, DoS prevention, and process management.

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Node.js Security Guide: Real-World Problems and Practical Fixes

Node.js is powerful — but it’s also very easy to deploy insecurely.
These are the problems I see most often in real production apps.

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🧩 Problem #1 — ENV Variables Leaking to the Client

Some developers accidentally expose:

✔ database passwords
✔ API keys
✔ secrets

Because they send process.env to frontend.

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✅ Fix — Never send secrets to client code

Environment variables must only be used server-side.

And .env file should never be committed.

.env

must be inside .gitignore.

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🧩 Problem #2 — No Rate Limiting (Easy to DDoS)

Without rate limiting:

Attackers can:

✔ flood login
✔ brute-force
✔ spam API

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✅ Fix — Add Rate Limiting (Express)

import rateLimit from "express-rate-limit";

const limiter = rateLimit({
  windowMs: 15 * 60 * 1000,
  max: 100
});

app.use(limiter);

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🧩 Problem #3 — Missing Helmet Security Headers

By default Node apps expose too much.

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✅ Fix — Install Helmet

npm install helmet

Then:

import helmet from "helmet"
app.use(helmet());

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🧩 Problem #4 — CORS Is Too Wide Open

Example of BAD config:

app.use(cors('*'));

This allows ANY site to call your API.

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✅ Fix — Restrict Origins

app.use(cors({
 origin: "https://yourdomain.com",
 credentials: true
}))

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🧩 Problem #5 — JWT Tokens Never Expire

Huge security risk.

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✅ Fix — Always Set Expiration

jwt.sign(payload, SECRET, { expiresIn: "1h" })

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🧩 Problem #6 — App Crashes on Error

One uncaught exception = app down.

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✅ Fix — Use Process Manager

Install PM2:

npm install -g pm2

Run app:

pm2 start app.js

Enable auto-restart:

pm2 startup
pm2 save

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🧩 Problem #7 — No Input Validation

This leads to:

✔ SQL injection
✔ crashes
✔ data corruption

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✅ Fix — Validate Everything

Example using Joi:

npm install joi

const schema = Joi.object({
 email: Joi.string().email().required()
});

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🧩 Problem #8 — Logging Sensitive Data

Never log:

✘ passwords
✘ tokens
✘ credit card data

Mask logs.

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🧩 Problem #9 — HTTPS Missing

Always terminate HTTPS at proxy.

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🧩 Problem #10 — No Backup Strategy

Databases must be backed up.

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✅ Final Node.js Security Checklist

✔ Helmet enabled
✔ Rate limiting enabled
✔ CORS restricted
✔ JWT expires
✔ ENV secure
✔ Logs safe
✔ HTTPS enforced
✔ PM2 process manager
✔ Input validation
✔ Backups enabled