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React source code visible 😲

Dhanush N on July 22, 2021

Do you know that when you deploy your React application which is created using 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲-𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝘁-𝗮𝗽𝗽 or your own webpack configuration to a live website...
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wpq profile image
Wpq

Ultimately the client code must run on the client so there is no way to make sure that your code stays private.

You can of course obfuscate/minify/uglify it but must not rely on its secrecy (especially from a security perspective)

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thinkjrs profile image
Jason R. Stevens, CFA • Edited

Similar to my thoughts: anyone with access to the client endpoint necessarily has access to the source. And removing the sourcemap is merely a cosmetic choice with no real source security improvement.

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wpq profile image
Wpq

This is also one of the reasons to never trust the client with anything you cannot control on the server side (typically a bearer)

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Alex Lohr

You could generate the source maps, but don't deploy them to live; instead only make them locally available.

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Jack

Sourcemaps are invaluable for debugging production issues. I've dealt with bugs so complex (and unable to reproduce in dev) that having sourcemaps disabled meant it was near impossible to solve them.
There shouldn't be anything in your codebase that's secret or needs obfuscation. Trust me, if a hacker wanted to read and manipulate your client code, the lack of a source map would not prevent them!
Rather than blanket disabling sourcemaps you should be ensuring your app doesn't have security holes in it in the first place...

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eLabFTW

No no no! You got it wrong. The best way is to NEVER ship software to the client this way you are sure that your code stays private!

Deploying an app on /dev/null is the best security one can have.

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Sankar Manoharan

We need sourcemap in local so check the condition according like IS_DEV = true generate source map

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Prakhar Gurunani

Long time back, I saw the source code of a react site, which was a saas product with no GPL/MIT licence, and I could literally use their service through this hack 😅. But they have fixed it now.

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aheisleycook profile image
privatecloudev

yep many site maintainers foroget anythign is possible

 
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Buniamin Shabanov

Then call moderator, or go create an issue somewhere, or send an email to support. Idk the issue tracking infrastructure on Dev.to. Just be a true dev!😄

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aheisleycook profile image
privatecloudev

Yep

 
metammodern profile image
Buniamin Shabanov

Check the same on other articles, maybe that's something with dev.to.

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Dhanush N

Check now

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Piotr Lewandowski

"you definitely don't want everyone to see your entire source code If it's a private repository" - the best way to do so is to NOT publish your project. Otherwise: if it's in my browser, I can see it.