We take the security of our Hacktoberfest 2025 project seriously. This document outlines security procedures and general policies for the project.

Please do not report security vulnerabilities through public GitHub issues.

If you believe you have found a security vulnerability in our project, we encourage you to let us know right away. We will investigate all legitimate reports and do our best to quickly fix the problem.

Please email security reports to: hariompandit5556@gmail.com

To help us better understand the nature and scope of the possible issue, please include as much of the following information as possible:

• Type of issue (e.g., buffer overflow, SQL injection, cross-site scripting, etc.)
• Full paths of source file(s) related to the manifestation of the issue
• The location of the affected source code (tag/branch/commit or direct URL)
• Any special configuration required to reproduce the issue
• Step-by-step instructions to reproduce the issue
• Proof-of-concept or exploit code (if possible)
• Impact of the issue, including how an attacker might exploit the issue

This information will help us triage your report more quickly.

When contributing to this project, please follow these security best practices:

• No Hardcoded Secrets: Never commit API keys, passwords, or other sensitive information
• Input Validation: Always validate and sanitize user inputs
• Dependencies: Keep dependencies up to date and avoid packages with known vulnerabilities
• Error Handling: Don't expose sensitive information in error messages

Use environment variables for sensitive configuration:

# Good ✅ const apiKey = process.env.GITHUB_TOKEN; # Bad ❌ const apiKey = "ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx";

• Regularly update dependencies: npm audit fix
• Use package-lock.json to ensure consistent installations
• Avoid dependencies with known security vulnerabilities

• Sanitize user-generated content to prevent XSS attacks
• Use HTTPS for all external API calls
• Implement proper CORS policies
• Validate data on both client and server side

• Use parameterized queries to prevent SQL injection
• Implement rate limiting to prevent abuse
• Use proper authentication and authorization
• Validate and sanitize all inputs
• Use security headers (helmet.js for Express)

This project implements several security measures:

• GitHub Security Advisories: Automatically scan for vulnerabilities in dependencies
• CodeQL Analysis: Static code analysis for security issues
• Dependabot: Automatic security updates for dependencies

• Security linting in GitHub Actions
• Automated dependency vulnerability scanning
• Secret scanning to prevent accidental commits of sensitive data

• All pull requests require review before merging
• Security-focused code review guidelines
• Automated security checks in PR workflow

Before submitting a PR, ensure:

• No hardcoded secrets or credentials
• All user inputs are properly validated
• Dependencies are up to date and secure
• Error messages don't expose sensitive information
• HTTPS is used for all external requests
• Proper authentication/authorization is implemented
• Security headers are configured
• Input sanitization is in place

// Hardcoded credentials const password = "admin123"; // SQL injection vulnerability const query = `SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ${userId}`; // XSS vulnerability document.innerHTML = userInput; // Exposing sensitive data in errors catch (error) { res.status(500).json({ error: error.message, stack: error.stack }); }

// Environment variables const password = process.env.ADMIN_PASSWORD; // Parameterized queries const query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ?"; db.query(query, [userId]); // Proper escaping document.textContent = userInput; // Safe error handling catch (error) { console.error(error); // Log for developers res.status(500).json({ error: "Internal server error" }); // Generic message for users }

This security policy is regularly reviewed and updated. Security updates and patches are released as needed.

We appreciate responsible disclosure of security vulnerabilities. Contributors who report valid security issues will be:

• Acknowledged in our security advisory (if desired)
• Listed in our contributors section
• Eligible for special recognition badges

• OWASP Top 10
• GitHub Security Best Practices
• Node.js Security Best Practices
• React Security Best Practices

During Hacktoberfest, we pay extra attention to security:

• All contributions are thoroughly reviewed
• Automated security scans run on every PR
• Security-focused issues are labeled for easy identification
• We provide security education for new contributors

Remember: Security is everyone's responsibility. When in doubt, ask! 🛡️

Thank you for helping keep our project and community safe! 🎃