What a Vibe Coding Security Scanner Can (and Cannot) Tell You

AI-assisted builders can take an idea from prompt to production in a weekend. That speed is useful, but it also compresses the part of the process where someone normally reviews deployment settings, browser-visible secrets, authorization boundaries, and recovery plans. A public security scanner is a good first pass for that problem. It is also easy to misunderstand. A clean public scan does not mean an application is secure, and a warning does not always mean a vulnerability is exploitable. The useful question is not “Did the scanner pass my app?” It is “What evidence could this scanner actually observe?” Layer 1: the public deployment surface A passive scanner can request the same resources that a normal visitor can reach. Depending on its scope, it may inspect: HTTP security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security HTTPS behavior and redirect consistency Public JavaScript bundles for credential-shaped strings Public source maps that expose original source structure Common sensitive paths such as environment files or repository metadata Cookie attributes and other response-level deployment signals These checks are valuable because they test the deployed result, not the configuration you intended to ship. For example, a repository may contain a CSP configuration while the CDN response does not. A source map may be disabled in one build configuration but still appear in production. A key may be stored safely on the server in most code paths while one client bundle accidentally contains a privileged token. The deployed surface is where those mistakes become observable. Layer 2: source-code review A public URL cannot reveal every control behind an application. Source review or SAST can inspect code paths, configuration, data flow, and dangerous implementation patterns that never appear in a normal response. This is where you can answer questions such as: Is authorization enforced on the server? Can a user change an object ID and read anothe