Sourcemaps exposed in production
Shared by rxliuli

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R

What does this mean? What does it have to do with VPN? Yes, not obfuscating is quite common. Usually, code is just compressed and sourcemaps are removed. Even when sourcemaps are needed in production, VPNs are typically used to prevent source code from being exposed to the public internet. They simply forgot to remove the sourcemaps in production.

This is talking about source code protection practices in web development, specifically regarding source maps.

What are source maps?

When developers build modern web applications, they typically:

  1. Write code in a readable format
  2. "Compress" or "minify" it for production (making it smaller and harder to read)
  3. Optionally generate source maps - special files that map the compressed code back to the original, readable source code

The VPN connection

The passage explains that when companies need source maps in production (for debugging purposes), they often use VPNs to restrict access. Here's how:

  • Source maps are hosted on the production server
  • But they're only accessible from behind a corporate VPN
  • Public internet users can't see them
  • Only authorized employees connected to the company VPN can access them

This way, developers can debug production issues using the original source code, but the general public can't view the company's proprietary code.

What happened in this case

The company made a mistake: they deployed the source maps without VPN protection. Anyone on the public internet could access them and see the original source code - essentially exposing their intellectual property unintentionally.

It's a security oversight where sensitive development files were left publicly accessible when they should have been either removed or protected behind access controls.

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