Purpose

Verify that a Rails application meets security standards before deployment.

Authentication

• Passwords are hashed with bcrypt (Devise default).
• Session expiration is configured.
• Account lockout is enabled after repeated failures.
• Email confirmation is required for new accounts.
• No hard-coded credentials in the codebase.

Authorization

• Pundit or CanCanCan policies cover all controllers.
• skip_before_action is not used to bypass authorization.
• Authorization is enforced at the service/model level, not only at the controller level.
• API endpoints validate authentication tokens.

Data Protection

• Sensitive data is encrypted at rest.
• Secrets are stored in config/credentials.yml.enc.
• No secrets committed to git history.
• Database credentials use environment variables, not defaults.
• API keys are rotated regularly.

Input Validation

• Strong parameters are used everywhere.
• SQL injection is prevented via ActiveRecord or sanitized queries.
• No raw SQL in the codebase (unless reviewed and documented).
• File uploads are validated (type, size, content).
• Redirect URLs are validated (open redirect prevention).

Output Protection

• CSRF protection is enabled (default in Rails).
• Content Security Policy header is configured.
• X-Frame-Options header is set.
• X-Content-Type-Options header is set.
• User-generated content is escaped in views.

Dependency Security

• bundler-audit passes with no advisories.
• Dependabot or equivalent is enabled for automated updates.
• Gems are regularly updated.
• No gems with known unpatched vulnerabilities.

Infrastructure

• HTTPS is enforced (HSTS configured).
• Rate limiting is enabled on authentication endpoints.
• Production error pages do not leak stack traces.
• Logs do not contain sensitive data (passwords, tokens, PII).
• Admin interfaces are restricted by IP or VPN.

Related Documents

• Rails Engineering Handbook
• Authentication and Authorization Guide
• Security Engineering Handbook
• Rails Deployment Playbook