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Vibe codingHardvc-g028
Subject Ai code reviewLevel Senior–Staff~18 minCommon in Security interviewsIndustries Software development

Question

An AI assistant wrote this Go function to compare a user-supplied API key against the expected one, using a helper it said was 'the safe way to compare secrets.' It compiles and the import resolves. Review it for an auth path.

go
import "crypto/subtle" func validKey(provided, expected string) bool {    if len(provided) != len(expected) {        return false    }    return subtle.SecureCompare([]byte(provided), []byte(expected))}
What a strong answer looks like

Treat the AI’s output as a draft to verify, not an answer to trust. Name the specific flaw and the input that triggers it, say how you’d catch it — tests, edge cases, reading critically — and how you’d re-prompt or decompose to get it right.

Learn the concepts
Describe your solution

Vibe coding: describe the solution in plain language (or narrate it) and the coach grades your approach. Generating runnable code from your description is coming next.

Run or narrate your approach, then ask the coach.