Security checklist for AI-generated apps: auth, RBAC, payments
Whether you run an AI app development platform, a donation platform builder AI, or a subscription app builder AI, ship features fast-but never ship trust last. Use this checklist to harden AI-generated code before it reaches users and auditors.
Authentication
- Adopt OIDC/OAuth2 with short-lived access tokens, rotating refresh tokens, and PKCE for public clients.
- Enforce WebAuthn MFA; require step-up authentication for payment, role change, or API key creation flows.
- Bind sessions to device fingerprints and IP reputation; revoke on anomaly (impossible travel, leaked token).
- Prefer passwordless; if passwords exist, use Argon2id with strong parameters and breach-checking.
- Implement signed logout, same-site/secure cookies, and session inactivity/absolute timeouts.
Authorization and RBAC
- Centralize authorization as policy-as-code (e.g., OPA/Rego or Cedar); decouple from UI logic.
- Model tenants explicitly; validate tenant IDs on every request and query.
- Grant least privilege by role; use resource-scoped permissions and deny-by-default.
- Support break-glass access with approval and immutable audit trails.
- Propagate entitlements to downstream services via signed JWTs with narrow scopes and expiry.
Payments and revenue flows
- Never touch raw card data; rely on PCI-compliant providers and tokenize everything.
- Demand idempotency keys for all charge, refund, and subscription change endpoints.
- Verify webhooks with HMAC signatures, timestamp windows, and replay protection.
- Maintain an internal ledger; reconcile provider events to guard against double-spends.
- For donations: issue tamper-proof receipts, lock currency at pledge time, and support AML screening.
- For subscriptions: enforce seat caps in RBAC, meter usage with signed reports, and prorate safely.
Data, secrets, and AI guardrails
- Store secrets in a KMS/SM; rotate, version, and never embed keys in prompts, logs, or client code.
- Encrypt data in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest with tenant-scoped keys; pin TLS and enable HSTS.
- Classify PII; redact before sending to models; block model-initiated actions without policy approval.
- Harden tool use: strict allowlists, input validation, and output filtering to resist prompt injection.
- Rate-limit auth, search, and money flows; add CAPTCHA or proof-of-work for high-risk paths.
Platform and supply chain
- Generate SBOMs; pin dependencies; verify signatures; require reproducible, attested builds.
- Run SAST, dependency scanning, and DAST in CI; fail builds on critical issues.
- Set CSP, Referrer-Policy, and security headers; isolate origins; sandbox iframes and payment widgets.
Testing and monitoring
- Abuse-case test suites: OAuth misconfig, privilege escalation, webhook spoofing, and ledger drift.
- Use canary releases; enable anomaly detection on authz denials, refund spikes, and failed MFA.
- Trace with correlation IDs; log decisions and policy inputs, but exclude secrets and raw PANs.
Bake this checklist into templates, scaffolds, and policy packs in your AI app development platform. Your donation platform builder AI and subscription app builder AI should generate secure defaults, not TODOs. Automate, enforce, and continuously verify these controls everywhere.
