Genspark Generated Code Security Checklist: Essential Verification Items Before Production Deployment

Introduction: Blind Spots of AI-Generated Code

Code generated by Genspark might seem perfect at first glance. However, AI often prioritizes "working code," with security becoming a secondary concern. Deploying generated code directly to a production environment can lead to issues like SQL injection vulnerabilities.

Before deploying AI-generated code to production, it is essential to establish a process for mandatory security checks. This article will introduce vulnerabilities we actually found and a corresponding checklist.

Critical Security Holes Discovered in Production

In the early stages of a project, we asked Genspark to "create a user search API." The generated code passed functional tests and was deployed as is. However, a security audit uncovered the following vulnerabilities:

Vulnerabilities Discovered

• 🔴 SQL Injection: User input directly embedded into queries
• 🔴 Authentication Bypass: Insufficient administrative privilege checks
• 🔴 Sensitive Information Leakage: Error messages containing DB schema
• 🔴 No Rate Limiting: Brute-force attacks possible
• 🔴 Insufficient Logging: Attack traces cannot be tracked

Fortunately, these were discovered just before going live in production, so there was no actual harm. However, if they had been missed, it would have led to a serious security incident.

Case Study 1: Detecting and Fixing SQL Injection Vulnerabilities

The most serious issue was an SQL injection vulnerability. The code generated by Genspark was as follows:

app.get('/api/users/search', async (req, res) => {
  const { query } = req.query;
  
  // 🔴 Dangerous: User input is directly embedded into the SQL string
  const sql = `SELECT * FROM users WHERE name LIKE '%${query}%'`;
  
  try {
    const users = await db.query(sql);
    res.json(users);
  } catch (error) {
    res.status(500).json({ error: error.message });
  }
});

This code allows an attacker to destroy the entire database by sending a request like this:

GET /api/users/search?query=' OR '1'='1'; DROP TABLE users; --

The generated SQL would be as follows, resulting in the deletion of the users table:

SELECT * FROM users WHERE name LIKE '%%' OR '1'='1'; DROP TABLE users; --%'

Corrected Version (Using Prepared Statements)

app.get('/api/users/search', async (req, res) => {
  const { query } = req.query;
  
  // ✅ Safe: Using prepared statements
  const sql = 'SELECT id, name, email, created_at FROM users WHERE name LIKE $1';
  const params = [`%${query}%`];
  
  try {
    const users = await db.query(sql, params);
    res.json(users);
  } catch (error) {
    // ✅ Error details in internal logs only. General message for user
    console.error('Database error:', error);
    res.status(500).json({ error: 'An error occurred while searching users' });
  }
});

Case Study 2: Preventing Authentication Bypass and Privilege Escalation

The next issue discovered was insufficient authentication and authorization implementation. Genspark implements basic authentication, but detailed permission checks can sometimes be missed.

// User deletion endpoint
app.delete('/api/users/:id', authMiddleware, async (req, res) => {
  const { id } = req.params;
  
  // 🔴 Dangerous: Allows deletion of users other than self
  try {
    await db.query('DELETE FROM users WHERE id = $1', [id]);
    res.json({ message: 'User deleted' });
  } catch (error) {
    res.status(500).json({ error: error.message });
  }
});

With this code, anyone who is authenticated can delete other users. The following correction is necessary:

Corrected Version (Proper Permission Check)

app.delete('/api/users/:id', authMiddleware, async (req, res) => {
  const { id } = req.params;
  const currentUserId = req.user.id;  // Set by authMiddleware
  const currentUserRole = req.user.role;
  
  try {
    // ✅ Safe: Only self or admin can delete
    if (id !== currentUserId && currentUserRole !== 'admin') {
      return res.status(403).json({ 
        error: 'Forbidden: You can only delete your own account' 
      });
    }
    
    // ✅ Log admin's deletion of other users
    if (id !== currentUserId && currentUserRole === 'admin') {
      await logAdminAction({
        adminId: currentUserId,
        action: 'DELETE_USER',
        targetUserId: id,
        timestamp: new Date()
      });
    }
    
    await db.query('DELETE FROM users WHERE id = $1', [id]);
    res.json({ message: 'User deleted successfully' });
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Delete user error:', error);
    res.status(500).json({ error: 'Failed to delete user' });
  }
});

Best Practices for Permission Checks

• ✅ Principle of Least Privilege: Grant only the minimum necessary permissions.
• ✅ Resource Ownership Check: Allow operations only on one's own resources.
• ✅ Log Admin Actions: Keep an audit trail.
• ✅ Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Implement a clear permission structure.

Case Study 3: Sensitive Information Leakage Risk and Countermeasures

Error handling code generated by Genspark often returns overly detailed information.

app.post('/api/login', async (req, res) => {
  const { email, password } = req.body;
  
  try {
    const user = await db.query(
      'SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = $1',
      [email]
    );
    
    // 🔴 Dangerous: Reveals user existence
    if (user.length === 0) {
      return res.status(404).json({ error: 'User not found' });
    }
    
    const validPassword = await bcrypt.compare(password, user[0].password);
    
    // 🔴 Dangerous: Reveals incorrect password
    if (!validPassword) {
      return res.status(401).json({ error: 'Invalid password' });
    }
    
    const token = generateToken(user[0]);
    res.json({ token });
  } catch (error) {
    // 🔴 Dangerous: Database error details leaked
    res.status(500).json({ 
      error: error.message,
      stack: error.stack,
      query: error.query
    });
  }
});

This code provides the following information to an attacker:

• Whether a user is registered with a specific email address
• Whether the password is correct
• Database schema information

Corrected Version (Preventing Information Leakage)

app.post('/api/login', async (req, res) => {
  const { email, password } = req.body;
  
  try {
    const user = await db.query(
      'SELECT id, email, password, role FROM users WHERE email = $1',
      [email]
    );
    
    // ✅ Safe: Does not distinguish between user existence and incorrect password
    if (user.length === 0) {
      // Intentionally add delay to prevent timing attacks
      await bcrypt.hash(password, 10);
      return res.status(401).json({ 
        error: 'Invalid email or password' 
      });
    }
    
    const validPassword = await bcrypt.compare(password, user[0].password);
    
    if (!validPassword) {
      // ✅ Log failed login (for brute-force detection)
      await logFailedLogin(email, req.ip);
      
      return res.status(401).json({ 
        error: 'Invalid email or password' 
      });
    }
    
    // ✅ Log successful login
    await logSuccessfulLogin(user[0].id, req.ip);
    
    const token = generateToken(user[0]);
    res.json({ token });
  } catch (error) {
    // ✅ Safe: Details in logs only, general message for user
    console.error('Login error:', {
      error: error.message,
      stack: error.stack,
      email: email,  // For investigation
      ip: req.ip
    });
    
    res.status(500).json({ 
      error: 'An error occurred during login. Please try again later.' 
    });
  }
});

Complete AI-Generated Code Security Checklist

Below is the complete list of items to verify before deploying Genspark-generated code to production.

1. Input Validation and Sanitization

• ✅ Is validation implemented for all user inputs?
• ✅ Are SQL injection countermeasures in place (using prepared statements/ORM)?
• ✅ Are XSS countermeasures in place (HTML escaping, Content-Security-Policy)?
• ✅ Are command injection countermeasures in place (avoiding shell command execution)?
• ✅ Are path traversal countermeasures in place (file path validation)?

2. Authentication and Authorization

• ✅ Is there a strong password policy (minimum length, complexity)?
• ✅ Is password hashing used (bcrypt, salt rounds ≥ 10)?
• ✅ Is session/token management secure (HttpOnly, Secure, SameSite)?
• ✅ Are appropriate permission checks in place (resource owner verification)?
• ✅ Is there an audit log for administrative operations?
• ✅ Is rate limiting implemented (for brute-force attack prevention)?

3. Data Protection

• ✅ Is sensitive data encrypted (at rest and in transit)?
• ✅ Are API keys and secrets externalized to environment variables?
• ✅ Is personal information minimized (only essential data collected)?
• ✅ Are database backups encrypted?
• ✅ Do logs not contain sensitive information?

4. Error Handling and Logging

• ✅ Do error messages not contain sensitive information?
• ✅ Is stack trace hidden (in production environment)?
• ✅ Are security events logged (login failures, permission errors, etc.)?
• ✅ Are logs protected (tamper-proof, access-restricted)?

5. Dependencies and Libraries

• ✅ Are all dependent libraries up to date?
• ✅ Are there any known vulnerabilities (npm audit, Snyk, etc.)?
• ✅ Are unnecessary dependencies removed?
• ✅ Are only libraries from trusted sources used?

6. Security Headers

// Recommended settings using Helmet.js, etc.
app.use(helmet({
  contentSecurityPolicy: {
    directives: {
      defaultSrc: ["'self'"],
      scriptSrc: ["'self'", "'unsafe-inline'"],
      styleSrc: ["'self'", "'unsafe-inline'"],
      imgSrc: ["'self'", "data:", "https:"],
    },
  },
  hsts: {
    maxAge: 31536000,
    includeSubDomains: true,
    preload: true
  },
  noSniff: true,
  xssFilter: true,
  referrerPolicy: { policy: 'strict-origin-when-cross-origin' }
}));

7. API-Specific Security

• ✅ Are CORS settings appropriately restricted?
• ✅ Is rate limiting implemented?
• ✅ Is API authentication used (JWT, OAuth, etc.)?
• ✅ Is request size limited?
• ✅ Is HTTPS enforced?

Utilizing Automated Check Tools

# Dependency vulnerability check
npm audit

# Static analysis
npm install -D eslint-plugin-security
eslint --ext .js,.ts .

# OWASP check
npm install -g @owasp/dependency-check
dependency-check --project myapp --scan .

# Docker image scan
docker scan myapp:latest

Summary: Security is Human Responsibility, Even with AI Generation

Genspark is a powerful coding assistant, but ultimate responsibility for security lies with humans. Instead of blindly trusting AI-generated code, always establish a process for security review.

Security Review Implementation Flow

1. Code Generation: Generate code with Genspark
2. Functional Testing: Verify operation
3. Static Analysis: Automated checks with ESLint, npm audit
4. Human Review: Verification based on this checklist
5. Vulnerability Assessment: Penetration testing with OWASP ZAP, etc.
6. Production Deployment: Release if no issues

Actions You Can Start Today

• ✅ Print/save this checklist and keep it handy at your desk
• ✅ Add security checklist items to your pull request template
• ✅ Integrate npm audit into your CI/CD pipeline
• ✅ Host a security review workshop for the entire team

Security cannot be added later. By incorporating it from the start, you can build a safe and reliable system.

Reference Links

• OWASP Top 10 - Top 10 Web Application Security Risks
• OWASP Cheat Sheet Series - Security Prevention Cheat Sheet
• ESLint Security Plugin - JavaScript Static Analysis
• Helmet.js - Node.js Security Headers
• OWASP ZAP - Vulnerability Scanning Tool
• npm audit - Dependency Vulnerability Check
• NVD - National Vulnerability Database