Vibe Coding Cybersecurity Insight Report · January 2026

Something remarkable happened in 2024-2025: building a full-stack app became easy. Tools like Supabase, combined with AI coding assistants and no-code builders, let solo founders ship production apps in days, not months.

But speed comes at a cost. As we started using SupaExplorer to audit projects, we noticed a pattern: many apps were misconfiguring their Supabase setup. The anon key in client-side code is fine; it's designed to be public. But we found apps exposing the service_role key (which bypasses RLS), or using the anon key with tables that had no RLS policies at all.

We decided to quantify the problem. Over the past month, we collected launch URLs from five major indie product directories and systematically scanned each one.

1. How We Ran the Scan

Our methodology was straightforward. We wanted to see exactly what an attacker browsing these sites would see: no special access, just looking at what's publicly shipped to every visitor's browser.

SupaExplorer Scanner Dashboard: Exposure funnel

2. What's Being Leaked

Not all exposures are equal. Finding a Supabase project URL and anon key in client code is expected, as both are designed to be public. The anon key provides low-privilege access that respects your Row Level Security policies.

The danger is when apps expose the service_role key (or the new sb_secret_... format), the elevated-privilege key meant only for server-side use. Of the 2,960 files flagged, we found credentials that could bypass RLS in a significant portion. We also verified which exposed databases had tables without RLS protection.

3. Which Directories Had the Most Leaks

Exposure rates varied significantly across directories. TrustMRR had the highest hit rate at 23.76%, with nearly 1 in 4 of its listed products exposing credentials. TinyLaunch contributed the highest absolute number.

"Nearly 1 in 4 products listed on TrustMRR were shipping database credentials to every visitor's browser."

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4. Where the Leaks Happen

Most exposed domains leaked credentials in just one or two files, typically the main JavaScript bundle. A small number had exposures across many files, suggesting systemic configuration issues.

5. Why This Keeps Happening

The tools are powerful, but the guardrails haven't caught up:

• Framework auto-exposure: Frameworks like Next.js, Vite, and SvelteKit auto-bundle any env var prefixed with PUBLIC_ or VITE_. One wrong prefix, and your service key ships.
• AI-generated code: LLMs trained on early Supabase examples suggest patterns that expose credentials. The code works, so it ships.
• Skipping the backend: Calling Supabase directly from the frontend is fastest. This works with proper RLS, but many developers don't configure policies.
• Copy-paste tutorials: Quick-start guides show the simplest setup first. Developers copy the code and forget to circle back.

6. How to Fix It

If you've found exposed credentials (or you're worried), here's the action plan:

1. Rotate your keys immediately

Go to Supabase dashboard → Settings → API. Regenerate both keys. Yes, this breaks your app temporarily, but that's better than an open door.

2. Audit your environment variables

The service-role key should never have a PUBLIC_, VITE_, or NEXT_PUBLIC_ prefix.

3. Move sensitive operations to the backend

Use API routes or Supabase Edge Functions for anything requiring elevated privileges.

4. Enable and test RLS policies

Row Level Security should be enabled on every table. Test by querying with just the anon key.

5. Add a build-time check

Grep your build output for Supabase URLs paired with JWT tokens. If both appear, fail the build.

AI-generated security report with SQL fixes

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7. What This Means

An 11% exposure rate across 20,000+ sites is concerning, but fixable. We're in the early days of a new development paradigm, one where shipping fast is prioritized over shipping secure.

The good news: these are solvable problems. The bad news: most affected developers don't know they're affected. That's why we built SupaExplorer.

If you're building with Supabase, take security seriously from day one. The vibe-coding era is here to stay, but so are the attackers watching indie directories for easy targets.

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Methodology

For collection of the data shared in this report, I used a new tool I built called SupaExplorer Python Scanner (a proprietary tool, and not open source). This allowed me to add sources, fetch the startup/SaaS pages, get the domains, and from there run the scanner on the pages and later collect the data and generate the report.

Sources: Fazier, TinyLaunch, Uneed, PeerPush, TrustMRR (January 2026, only sites from the Acquire page)
Scan depth: HTML + linked JS (avg 11.36 files/site)
Deduplication: Domains in multiple directories counted once for the totals, but not for the individual sources metrics.
Detection: Pattern matching for *.supabase.co URLs and JWT tokens
Verification: Schema accessibility tested; no data exfiltrated
Stack: SupaExplorer Python Scanner + Chart.js

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