Laravel Security

Priority: P0 (CRITICAL)

Workflow: Secure a Resource

1. Generate policy — php artisan make:policy PostPolicy --model=Post.
2. Implement policy methods — Return bool for view, update, delete actions.
3. Authorize in controller — Call $this->authorize('update', $post).
4. Add Gate bypass — Define Gate::before() for admin users in AuthServiceProvider.
5. Validate inputs — Use Form Request with $request->validated() for Model::create().

Policy Example

See implementation examples for Policy class with controller authorization.

Implementation Guidelines

Authorization & RBAC

• Policies: Always use php artisan make:policy PostPolicy --model=Post for model-level authorization.
• Checkers: Implement update(User $user, Post $post): bool and call $this->authorize('update', $post) in controllers.
• Gates: Use Gate::define('admin', fn(User $user) => ...) for global permissions. Check with Gate::allows('admin') or Blade @can('admin'). prefer Policies for model-bound checks; use Gates for global permissions.
• Admin Bypass: Define Gate::before(fn($u) => $u->isAdmin() ? true : null) in AuthServiceProvider.

Configuration & Environment

• Environment: Only call env() inside config/*.php files. Access via config('app.key') in your application code. never env() in controllers; use config() instead.
• Caching: Run php artisan config:cache to validate that env() isn't used where it shouldn't be.

Data & Input Security

• Mass Assignment: Use Form Request with rules() and call $request->validated() for Model::create(). Define $fillable on model; never pass $request->all() to create().
• CSRF: Ensure the @csrf directive is in all Blade <form> tags. active on web routes by default; use ->except(['/webhook']) only for trusted third-party callbacks.
• Role-Based Access: Use Policies with role checks in policy methods; define Gate::before for admin bypass; or use spatie/laravel-permission; never inline $user->role === 'admin'.

Anti-Patterns

• No env() outside config files: Access via config() helper.
• No custom auth logic: Use Laravel's built-in auth system.
• No unvalidated mass assignment: Always call validated().
• No auth logic in Blade: Pass permissions as data from controller.

References

• Policy & Env Best Practices