Lovable? More like Hackable.
Lovable just raised $330M at a $6.6B valuation. Collins Dictionary named "vibe coding" word of the year. 25 million apps built. The future of software, they say.
So I tested one.
An EdTech app featured on Lovable's own showcase. 100,000+ views. Nearly 400 upvotes. Real users from University of California, Berkeley, and University of California, Davis, schools across Europe, Africa, and Asia.
What I found in a few hours:
→ 16 security vulnerabilities (6 critical) → 18,697 user records extractable without logging in
→ Any account deletable with a single API call — no auth
→ Student grades modifiable by anyone on the internet → Bulk emails sendable through their infrastructure — zero verification
→ K-12 school domains on the platform — minors' data likely exposed
→ Users from US, EU, Africa, and Asia — potentially triggering violations across 6+ regulatory frameworks:
U.S. Department of Education — FERPA (student education records)
European Commission — GDPR (EU citizen data, fines up to €20M)
Federal Trade Commission — COPPA (children's data from K-12 schools)
NITDA Nigeria — NDPR (Nigerian users)
PDPA (Malaysian users)
DPA (Philippine users)
The root cause? A SQL logic error that might have slipped through AI code generation and nobody reviewed. The auth check was literally backwards — blocking logged-in users and allowing anonymous ones through.
This isn't a one-off. A security researcher scanned 1,645 @Lovable apps and found 170 with critical flaws — personal data, API keys, and payment records exposed to anyone. Severity: 9.3/10.
Veracode found 45% of AI-generated code contains security flaws. Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 has documented real breaches of vibe-coded apps. December 2025 testing found 69 vulnerabilities across 5 vibe coding platforms.
When Lovable says they generate apps with "authentication included" — they mean it's included. It just doesn't work.
I reported the issue to Lovable's support team. The ticket was closed without further follow-up.
The full write-up covers every finding, the systemic pattern behind it, and what needs to change — for platforms, for builders, and for the industry.
"Ship fast, break things" sounds great — until "things" means 18,000 people's personal data.
cc: Supabase, OWASP® Foundation
#VibeCoding #Cybersecurity #Lovable #AppSecurity #StartupSecurity #EdTech #InfoSec #VibeCodingSecurity #AI #SecurityAudit #GDPR #FERPA #COPPA #DataPrivacy #DataBreach
Lovable is a $6.6B vibe coding platform. They showcase apps on their site as success stories.
I tested one — an EdTech app with 100K+ views on their showcase, real users from UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and schools across Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Found 16 security vulnerabilities in a few hours. 6 critical. The auth logic was literally backwards — it blocked logged-in users and let anonymous ones through. Classic AI-generated code that “works” but was never reviewed.
What was exposed:
18,697 user records (names, emails, roles) — no auth needed
Account deletion via single API call — no auth
Student grades modifiable — no auth
Bulk email sending — no auth
Enterprise org data from 14 institutions
I reported it to Lovable. They closed the ticket.
submitted by
/u/VolodsTaimi
Originally posted by u/VolodsTaimi on r/ClaudeCode