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elixir-security-review

Reviews Elixir code for security vulnerabilities including code injection, atom exhaustion, and secret handling. Use when reviewing code handling user input, external data, or sensitive configuration.

personAuthor: jakexiaohubgithub

Elixir Security Review

Quick Reference

| Issue Type | Reference | |------------|-----------| | Code.eval_string, binary_to_term | references/code-injection.md | | String.to_atom dangers | references/atom-exhaustion.md | | Config, environment variables | references/secrets.md | | ETS visibility, process dictionary | references/process-exposure.md |

Review Checklist

Critical (Block Merge)

  • [ ] No Code.eval_string/1 on user input
  • [ ] No :erlang.binary_to_term/1 without :safe on untrusted data
  • [ ] No String.to_atom/1 on external input
  • [ ] No hardcoded secrets in source code

Major

  • [ ] ETS tables use appropriate access controls
  • [ ] No sensitive data in process dictionary
  • [ ] No dynamic module creation from user input
  • [ ] Path traversal prevented in file operations

Configuration

  • [ ] Secrets loaded from environment
  • [ ] No secrets in config/*.exs committed to git
  • [ ] Runtime config used for deployment secrets

Valid Patterns (Do NOT Flag)

  • String.to_atom on compile-time constants - Atoms created at compile time are safe
  • Code.eval_string in dev/test - May be needed for tooling
  • ETS :public tables - Valid when intentionally shared
  • binary_to_term with :safe - Explicitly safe option used

Context-Sensitive Rules

| Issue | Flag ONLY IF | |-------|--------------| | String.to_atom | Input comes from external source (user, API, file) | | binary_to_term | Data comes from untrusted source | | ETS :public | Contains sensitive data |

Hard gates (before reporting)

Complete in order for each finding you intend to report. Do not advance until the pass condition is satisfied.

  1. Location artifact — The finding includes [FILE:LINE] (or a line range) that you copied from the current file contents; the path resolves in this repo.
  2. Scope read — You read the full surrounding function or module section that contains the flagged code, not only a diff hunk or summary.
  3. External-data claim (only if the finding depends on “user/untrusted input”) — You can name one concrete ingress (for example conn.params, Jason.decode!/1 result, uploaded file path, message from another node) or you drop the finding because the value is compile-time, test-only, or internal per Context-Sensitive Rules.
  4. Protocol — Pre-report steps in review-verification-protocol are satisfied for this item (no finding if they are not).

Before Submitting Findings

Use the issue format: [FILE:LINE] ISSUE_TITLE for each finding.

Hard gate 4 requires review-verification-protocol; use it as the full pre-report checklist and issue-type verification (it extends beyond this skill’s summary).