Web application security refers to a variety of processes, technologies, or methods for safeguarding web servers, web applications, and web services such as APIs from attack by Internet-based threats. Web application security is crucial to protecting data, customers, and organizations from data theft, interruptions in business continuity, or other dangerous results of cybercrime.

Out of the box, Laravel is very secure. However, no framework could claim to be 100% secure, and there are always different methods to enhance the security of the Laravel applications. The best thing about Laravel security is that whenever a loophole is discovered, the maintenance team takes care of it as soon as possible. So, in this article, I will share the most important security features of Laravel with you, which can help you in improving your web application security.

CSRF (cross-site request forgery) Protection

Laravel provides an easy method of protecting your application from cross-site request forgeries. In other words, CSRF protection makes sure that each request actually comes for your application, not a potential XSS (Cross-Site Security) attack by a third party. If the CSRF filter detects a potentially threatening request, it returns the HTTP 500 error and denies access. The main reason for preventing CSRF is to determine the identity of the requestor, mainly in the following ways:

• Adding a token to the form
• Verification code
• Verify the Referer in the request header

Laravel utilizes the Form Classes Token Method (for short, CSRF token), which is enabled by default. You can view the token and a predefined CSRF filter embedded in the source code.

<form method="POST" action="/profile">
    @csrf

    <!-- Equivalent to... -->
    <input type="hidden" name="_token" value="{{ csrf_token() }}" />
</form>

Laravel Authentication System

Laravel also has a vigorous user authentication process in place with the associated boilerplate code available in the scaffolding.
Laravel utilizes “providers” and “guards” to stimulate the authentication process. The main purpose of “guards” is to authenticate users for each request they make, while “providers” facilitate retrieving the users from the database. As a developer, all you have to do is to set up the database, controllers, and models. During the process, authentication features are built into the application.

SQL Injection

Laravel safeguards you from SQL injection as long as you’re using the Fluent Query Builder or Eloquent. Laravel does this by making prepared statements that are going to escape any user input that may come in through your forms.

Laravel Eloquent and query builder both protect you against SQL injection, Besides that it is possible to create a RAW SQL statement. It is not recommended to write Raw queries due to security issues. But if you must use raw queries, you should ensure you do server-side validation of user inputs. Raw queries combined with string concatenation are a bad sign.

Using HTTPS instead of HTTP

Using HTTPS instead of HTTP indicates that communications between your browser and a website are encrypted through the use of an SSL (Secure Socket Layer). When you deploy your website on HTTP, all the data including passwords and others are sent in plain content. This could be easily pilfered by anyone in between the transmission. So if you want to keep this information safe, you should always deploy your web applications on HTTPS to safeguard their sensitive information.

You can do this by simply setting up an SSL certificate on your website by getting little assistance from any Laravel developer who will shift your application from HTTP to HTTPS easily. While hiding specific routes, you can utilize the below-defined filter which will redirect users to a secured route.

Route::filter('https', function() {

if ( ! Request::secure())

return Redirect::secure(URI::current());

});

Escape Content to Prevent XSS

Another way to avoid XSS attacks is that you should use the double brace syntax in the blade templates: {{ $variable }}
Only use this {!! $variable !!} syntax when you are certain that the data in the variable is safer to be displayed.

Laravel Security Packages:

Laravel offers several packages to improve the security of its applications. Here, I’ve mentioned the most popular security-focused Laravel packages:

barryvdh/laravel-security

This package integrates Symfony Security Core in Laravel, mainly to use the Voters to check access to roles/objects.

GrahamCampbell/Laravel-Security

Laravel Security was created is a voku/anti-xss wrapper for Laravel, using graham-campbell/security-core.

kodeine/laravel-acl

Laravel-ACL provides role-based secured permissions to the Laravel authentication process. The package helps protect routes and CRUD controller methods in the applications.

rinvex/laravel-auth

A powerful authentication, authorization, and verification package built on top of Laravel. It provides developers with Role-Based Access Control, Two-Factor Authentication, Social Authentication, and much more, compatible with Laravel’s standard API and fully featured out of the box.

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