Last updated: January 12, 2026
An honest security analysis of MongoDB for developers considering it for their projects.
MongoDB Atlas is enterprise-secure, but MongoDB has a troubled history with exposed instances. Tens of thousands of self-hosted MongoDB databases were ransomed due to no authentication. Atlas enforces auth by default. Still need IP allowlists and NoSQL injection prevention.
Tens of thousands of MongoDB instances were wiped and ransomed because self-hosted MongoDB had no authentication enabled by default. Attackers scanned for open port 27017 and deleted data. This led MongoDB to change defaults and promote Atlas.
MongoDB's reputation suffered from the mass ransomware attacks on exposed instances, but that was a self-hosted default configuration issue. MongoDB Atlas enforces authentication and provides enterprise security. Use Atlas, restrict IP allowlists, and prevent NoSQL injection - different syntax than SQL injection.
Understanding MongoDB security in the context of broader industry trends and research.
of Lovable applications (170 out of 1,645) had exposed user data in the CVE-2025-48757 incident
Source: CVE-2025-48757 security advisory
average cost of a data breach in 2023
Source: IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023
developers using vibe coding platforms like Lovable, Bolt, and Replit
Source: Combined platform statistics 2024-2025
“Vibe coding your way to a production codebase is clearly risky. Most of the work we do as software engineers involves evolving existing systems, where the quality and understandability of the underlying code is crucial.”
“The problem with AI-generated code isn't that it doesn't work - it's that it works just well enough to ship, but contains subtle security flaws that are hard to spot.”
Self-hosted MongoDB historically had no authentication enabled by default. Attackers scanned for open port 27017 and found tens of thousands of exposed databases. MongoDB Atlas solves this by enforcing authentication. Always use Atlas or explicitly configure auth on self-hosted.
NoSQL injection attacks MongoDB queries differently than SQL injection. Example: passing {"$gt": ""} as a username bypasses string comparison. Prevent by using explicit operators like $eq and never passing raw user input to queries. MongoDB drivers have built-in protections if used correctly.
Yes. Atlas enforces authentication by default, includes encryption, and provides network isolation options. Self-hosted MongoDB requires manual security configuration. The mass ransomware attacks primarily affected self-hosted instances with default (no-auth) configurations.
Store connection strings in environment variables, never in code. Use secrets managers (AWS Secrets Manager, HashiCorp Vault). Restrict IP allowlists to only your application servers. On Atlas, enable VPC peering or private endpoints for production workloads.
Don't guess - scan your app and know for certain. VAS checks for all the common security issues in MongoDB applications.