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Security: devtechedge/veritas-engine

Security

SECURITY.md

Security Assessment — Veritas Engine

Date: 2026-08-24
Scope: Auth, XSS, injection, SSE API, secrets, demo mode, dependency risk
Context: Public deploy is a Next.js 14 App Router console at veritas-engine-woad.vercel.app. Default Demo mode never calls Gemini or Tavily.

Executive summary

Area Risk Notes
Authentication N/A (by design) No login, cookies, or sessions
Authorization N/A Single public research endpoint
XSS Low Custom Markdown parser emits React nodes; no dangerouslySetInnerHTML
Injection Low (capped) Query 1–500 chars; maxIterations 1–4; Tavily/Gemini receive the string as JSON
SSE / DoS Accepted residual Unauthenticated POST /api/research can run a LangGraph cycle
Secrets None in git GEMINI_API_KEY / TAVILY_API_KEY are server env only
AuthN of Live vs Demo Client flag __DEMO__ suffix is client-controlled (quota preservation)

Overall (public Vercel demo): Low residual risk on Demo. Live mode is opt-in and only as safe as the Gemini / Tavily keys in Vercel.

1. Authentication & session

Findings

  • No NextAuth, JWT, cookies, or role gates.
  • Demo vs Live is a UI toggle that appends __DEMO__ to the query. The server treats that marker as “simulate,” even if keys are present.

Verdict: Do not claim the demo is authenticated. The suffix is not a secret.

2. XSS

Findings

  • src/components/Dashboard.tsx parses Markdown into React elements (headings, tables, lists, code, pre). User/LLM text is passed as children, not HTML.
  • No dangerouslySetInnerHTML. No react-markdown.
  • Brief copy/export uses text/markdown blobs, not innerHTML.

Hardening applied

  • Keep the custom parser; do not introduce raw HTML interpolation.

3. Injection (prompt / search / command)

Findings

  • POST /api/research is the only mutating surface.
  • Query is interpolated into Gemini system/user prompts and into Tavily’s JSON query field. There is no SQL, no ORM, no child_process.

Hardening applied (src/lib/validation.ts)

  • Body must be a JSON object
  • query must be a string, trimmed, 1–500 characters
  • A body that is only __DEMO__ is rejected
  • maxIterations must be an integer in [1, 4] (default 3)

Malformed JSON returns 400.

4. HTTP surface

Endpoint Auth Notes
GET / None Client dashboard
POST /api/research None SSE stream of LangGraph node updates

Same-origin fetch from the dashboard. No CORS wildcards. dynamic = "force-dynamic".

next.config.js: typescript.ignoreBuildErrors is false.

5. Secrets & demo mode

Findings

  • .gitignore excludes .env, .env.*, .vercel. .env.example is empty placeholders.
  • Live Gemini uses GEMINI_API_KEY or GOOGLE_API_KEY on the server. Tavily uses TAVILY_API_KEY in the POST body to api.tavily.com (Tavily’s documented key placement).
  • Keys are not prefixed NEXT_PUBLIC_.
  • Public Vercel can run with no keys: Demo mode (and a missing-key fallback) returns simulated planner / critic / brief text.

Accepted residual risk

  • Anyone can hit /api/research without __DEMO__. If Vercel has keys, that spends quota. Demo is the documented public path.
  • Tavily api_key in JSON is Tavily’s API, not a leak into the repo.

6. Dependency / supply chain

Runtime: Next 14, React 18, LangGraph / LangChain core, @langchain/google-genai, Lucide.

Removed in this pass because they were never imported: @langchain/openai, clsx, tailwind-merge, zod.

Do not npm audit fix --force onto Next 15/16 to clear Next 14 advisories. Dependabot ignores majors.

npm audit --omit=dev

7. Residual risk & acceptance

Accepted for portfolio demo

  • Unauthenticated research POST
  • Client-controlled Demo suffix
  • Simulated briefs on Vercel
  • Next 14 advisories that require a major bump

Not accepted

  • Shipping keys in the client bundle
  • Re-enabling ignoreBuildErrors
  • Rendering LLM Markdown via dangerouslySetInnerHTML

8. How to re-test

npm ci
npm test
npm run typecheck
npx playwright install chromium
npm run test:e2e
npm run audit

To report a vulnerability, open a GitHub security advisory or an issue. Rotate Gemini / Tavily keys in the Vercel project if they leak.

There aren't any published security advisories