Rate limiting middleware imported is actually applied

Constructing an @upstash/ratelimit or express-rate-limit instance and never calling .limit() or app.use(rateLimit(...)) leaves your endpoints open to credential stuffing, enumeration, and API cost amplification. CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) is the direct mapping. The library's presence in package.json signals the developer anticipated abuse — but without invocation, every endpoint accepts unlimited requests. An attacker who discovers the rate limiter is never called can run brute-force or scraping at full speed.

Call .limit() per request at the top of each handler, or apply rateLimit() as global middleware. For Upstash:

import { Ratelimit } from '@upstash/ratelimit'
import { Redis } from '@upstash/redis'

const limiter = new Ratelimit({
  redis: Redis.fromEnv(),
  limiter: Ratelimit.slidingWindow(10, '10 s'),
})

export async function POST(req: Request) {
  const ip = req.headers.get('x-forwarded-for') ?? 'anonymous'
  const { success, remaining } = await limiter.limit(ip)
  if (!success) {
    return Response.json({ error: 'Too many requests' }, { status: 429 })
  }
  // ... rest of handler
}

For sensitive routes (login, password reset, signup), apply tighter limits than general API routes. Verify the .limit() call appears before any business logic.

• ID: ai-slop-security-theater.unapplied-middleware.rate-limiter-imported-and-applied

• Severity: high

• What to look for: When any rate-limiting library is in package.json dependencies — express-rate-limit, @upstash/ratelimit, rate-limiter-flexible, rate-limit-redis, bottleneck, next-rate-limit, @vercel/firewall — walk source files and count all imports of these libraries. For each import, count whether the same file or another file in the application chain contains an INVOCATION pattern: app.use(rateLimit(, await ratelimit.limit(, await rateLimit.check(, await rateLimiter.consume(, bottleneck.schedule(, OR a middleware wrapper that the library documents.

• Pass criteria: A rate-limiting library is imported AND at least 1 invocation call exists. Report: "Rate limiter: [name] imported in [file] AND invoked in [file]."

• Fail criteria: A rate-limiting library is imported but never invoked anywhere in source.

• Skip (N/A) when: No rate-limiting library in dependencies AND no vercel.json/netlify.toml/Cloudflare config defines rate limits.

• Detail on fail: "@upstash/ratelimit imported in src/lib/ratelimit.ts but no .limit(... call found anywhere in source. Rate limiter constructed but never used to actually limit requests."

• Remediation: A rate limiter that's never invoked doesn't limit anything. Wire it into your route handlers:

  // Bad: limiter constructed but never called
  import { Ratelimit } from '@upstash/ratelimit'
  const limiter = new Ratelimit({ ... })
  // ...no .limit() calls anywhere
  
  // Good: invoke .limit() per request
  export async function POST(req: Request) {
    const ip = req.headers.get('x-forwarded-for') ?? 'anonymous'
    const { success } = await limiter.limit(ip)
    if (!success) {
      return Response.json({ error: 'Too many requests' }, { status: 429 })
    }
    // ... handle request
  }