Laravel Application Security

Building secure Laravel applications might feel like an afterthought sometimes, but Stephen Rees-Carter dropped some serious knowledge at Laracon AU 2024 that made me rethink a few things. Stephen’s an ethical hacker who’s seen it all — and by that, I mean he’s hacked into a lot of Laravel apps, all to help devs like us see the cracks we tend to miss.

Inspired by his insights, I wrote up a guide to some of the most overlooked security steps that can make a huge difference in protecting your Laravel projects. Here’s a taste of what’s inside:

1. Outdated Packages – We all love libraries to speed things up, but if you’re not updating regularly, you’re basically leaving the door open. Run composer update more often than you think you need to.
2. Secured Session Cookies – A tiny .env setting can be the difference between safe cookies and easy-to-steal cookies. It’s a quick fix that you’ll thank yourself for later.
3. HSTS Encryption – Man-in-the-middle attacks? Nope, no thank you. Setting up HSTS means your users will always be on HTTPS, making these attacks a whole lot harder.
4. Blade Syntax Gotchas – If you’re mixing up {!! !!} and {{ }}, you’re risking XSS vulnerabilities. Small syntax mistake, big consequences.
5. Markdown Risks – Rendering Markdown without the right options can open doors you didn’t realize. A couple of config tweaks make it way safer.
6. Trusting Third-Party Code – CDNs are awesome, but adding integrity hashes keeps them secure. Don’t just copy the link and move on — check those hashes!

It might all sound obvious, but missing even one of these steps could leave your app exposed. Want the full lowdown? Read here: https://laraveleco.com/how-to-keep-your-laravel-application-hacker-free/

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