RAILWAY SECURITY GUIDE FOR AI-GENERATED APPS | VIBEEVAL

Railway Services Are Public by Default

Railway services are exposed on public URLs by default. AI-generated apps often deploy databases, admin panels, and internal APIs without authentication, making them accessible to anyone who finds the .railway.app URL. Private networking must be explicitly configured.

Railway Security Checklist

Follow these 12 steps to secure your Railway deployment. Critical items prevent public exposure of databases and internal services.

Configure environment variables properly

Use Railway’s environment variable system for all secrets instead of committing .env files to repositories.

Separate development and production

Create separate Railway projects or environments for dev, staging, and production with different credentials.

Enable private networking

Use Railway’s private networking for inter-service communication to prevent exposing internal APIs publicly.

Configure custom domains with SSL

Set up custom domains with automatic SSL certificates instead of using default railway.app domains in production.

Review service permissions

Audit which team members have access to production deployments and follow least privilege principle.

Set resource limits

Configure memory and CPU limits to prevent resource exhaustion attacks and control costs.

Enable deployment notifications

Set up alerts for deployments, crashes, and resource usage to detect anomalies quickly.

Use health checks

Configure health check endpoints to detect and restart unhealthy services automatically.

Review exposed ports

Ensure only necessary ports are exposed and internal services are not publicly accessible.

Configure database backups

Enable automated backups for Railway-managed databases and test restoration procedures.

Implement log retention

Configure log forwarding to external services for security event analysis and compliance.

Review deployment triggers

Audit which branches and events trigger deployments to prevent unauthorized releases.

Common Railway Misconfigurations

Public Database URLs

Database connection strings exposed as public environment variables, allowing anyone to access production data.

No Environment Separation

Using the same Railway project for dev and production, mixing test data with real user data.

Exposed Internal Services

Internal APIs and admin panels publicly accessible without authentication on .railway.app domains.

Missing Resource Limits

No memory or CPU limits configured, allowing denial of service attacks to rack up unlimited costs.

Related Resources

Environment Variables Security

Best practices for Railway secrets management

Render Security Guide

Similar platform security for Render deployments

Docker Security Basics

Container security for Railway deployments

API Security Testing

Test your Railway-deployed APIs for vulnerabilities

Scan Your Railway Deployment

VibeEval can detect publicly exposed services, missing authentication, and environment variable misconfigurations in Railway deployments. Secure your app before attackers find it.