Is vibe coding secure?
Not by default. Apps built with AI tools like Lovable, Bolt or Cursor frequently ship with exposed API keys, misconfigured database access, missing authentication and unvalidated inputs. The code often works but skips the security engineering that makes it safe for real users. A vibe-coded app should be independently audited against the OWASP Top 10 and hardened before launch.
Vibe coding — building an app by prompting an AI tool — is a genuine breakthrough for speed. But speed and security are not the same thing, and AI builders optimise for the first.
In the apps we review, the recurring problems are:
- Exposed secrets — API keys and tokens left in client-side code.
- Open databases — row-level security never configured, so anyone can read everything.
- Fake authentication — access control enforced only in the frontend, trivially bypassed.
- No input validation — leaving the door open to injection and cross-site scripting.
None of this shows up in a demo. It shows up when a real user — or an attacker — does something the AI didn’t anticipate.
The fix isn’t to avoid vibe coding. It’s to treat AI-generated code as a fast first draft, then have it independently audited and hardened before you put real users or real data near it.