critical
Security Vulnerability

Firebase Security Rules Misconfiguration

Firebase Security Rules misconfiguration occurs when rules allow unauthorized access, commonly due to leaving test mode enabled or writing overly permissive rules.

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What is Firebase Security Rules Misconfiguration?

Firebase Security Rules control access to Firestore and Realtime Database. Test mode rules (allow read, write: if true) expose your entire database publicly. Unlike traditional backends, Firebase relies entirely on these rules for security since the database is directly accessible from the client.

How It Happens

  • Deploying with test mode rules still enabled
  • Writing rules that check auth but not authorization
  • Not understanding the Firebase security model
  • Copying insecure rules from tutorials
  • AI-generated rules that are too permissive

Impact

Complete database exposure - all data readable

Data manipulation - anyone can write/delete data

Potential data ransom attacks

Privacy violations and compliance failures

Service abuse and billing issues

How to Detect

  • Check Firebase Console > Rules for test mode warnings
  • Try reading data without authentication
  • Use Firebase Emulator to test rules
  • Run VAS to detect exposed databases

How to Fix

Remove test mode rules

Replace test mode rules with proper authentication checks.

// BAD - Test mode (NEVER deploy this)
rules_version = '2';
service cloud.firestore {
  match /databases/{database}/documents {
    match /{document=**} {
      allow read, write: if true;
    }
  }
}

Write authenticated rules

Require authentication and check resource ownership.

// GOOD - Production rules
rules_version = '2';
service cloud.firestore {
  match /databases/{database}/documents {
    match /users/{userId} {
      allow read, write: if request.auth != null
        && request.auth.uid == userId;
    }
    match /posts/{postId} {
      allow read: if request.auth != null;
      allow write: if request.auth != null
        && request.auth.uid == resource.data.authorId;
    }
  }
}

Validate data structure

Check that incoming data matches expected structure.

allow create: if request.auth != null
  && request.resource.data.keys().hasOnly(['title', 'content', 'authorId'])
  && request.resource.data.title is string
  && request.resource.data.title.size() <= 100;

Is Your App Vulnerable?

VAS automatically scans for firebase security rules misconfiguration and provides detailed remediation guidance.

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