Approval workflow app security
Approval workflow app security checklist
Before you launch an approval workflow app, check authz, secrets, pii and abuse. The rules below are the ones this category most often gets wrong; each one is concrete enough to test.
Last checked
Security: authz
- RLS on tenant_id for every tenant table plus the role guard on every route; ids are re-verified against the tenant (no IDOR).
- Separation of duties is enforced in the database: a requester can never record a decision on their own request.
Security: secrets
- Invitation tokens and API keys are random, stored only as hashes, shown once, and revocable.
Security: pii
- Requester and approver identity are minimised in logs; notification payloads carry ids, not request bodies.
Security: abuse
- Invites, API keys and exports are rate limited; seat limits cannot be bypassed by concurrent invites.
Compliance notes
- SOX-style controls (applies to customers are public companies): Separation of duties, immutable decision records and access reviews support internal-control audits.
- GDPR (applies to EU users): Requester and approver names are personal data: export, erasure with audit preserved, processor agreements.
Limits that stop abuse and surprise bills
- emails per tenant day: capped by TENANT_DAILY_EMAIL_CAP; over the cap email stops and in-app notifications continue.
- api requests per tenant min: rate limited per key and tenant.
Test it yourself before launch
Forge64 gives every app its own Postgres database and runs a quality gate that flags unauthenticated writes and secrets in client code before you see the app. It does not replace your own testing, and it holds no third-party security certification today.
This is a reference design for the category, not a promise that every item is generated today. Built-ins such as background jobs, file uploads and search are rolling out; email sent from your app is coming soon, so anything here that needs it is something you add yourself for now.
- Sign in as two different users and try to open each other's records by changing the id in the address.
- Submit each form with an empty value, a very long value and a script tag, and check the result.
- Call each write endpoint without signing in and check that it refuses.
FAQ
- What is the biggest security risk in an approval workflow app?
- RLS on tenant_id for every tenant table plus the role guard on every route; ids are re-verified against the tenant (no IDOR).
- Does an approval workflow app have compliance obligations?
- SOX-style controls, if you have customers are public companies: Separation of duties, immutable decision records and access reviews support internal-control audits. This is a starting point, not legal advice.
- Will Forge64 certify my app as secure?
- No. Forge64 holds no third-party security certification today and does not certify apps. The checklist is a way to test your own app.
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