A livestream-and-chat platform rebuilt right after the audit failed it.

Context

A private membership community ran its live video and real-time chat on a 2,300-line monolithic plugin. An audit found what monoliths hide: an authentication bypass in the chat-presence layer, N+1 query storms, cross-site-scripting exposure, and missing rate limits, real security and performance liabilities on a system members used live.

What we built

We ran the audit formally, cataloguing the critical, high, and medium findings, then re-architected the plugin from the monolith into single-responsibility modules: separate components for database, access control, real-time presence (Pusher), moderation, chat, REST API, webhooks, and shortcodes. An HLS player handles adaptive video, membership-gated channel auth closes the bypass, and moderation, bans, an API, and webhooks round it out. The rebuild shut the auth bypass, killed the N+1 queries, patched the XSS, and added the rate limiting the monolith never had.

The value

• Members can trust a real-time system with live participation. The authentication bypass, XSS, and rate-limit gaps the audit found are all closed.
• A modular architecture replaced a 2,300-line monolith, so the platform can be maintained and extended instead of feared.
• Performance liabilities (N+1 query storms) were engineered out. The chat and presence layer scales with the audience.
• The audit-then-rebuild discipline means the fixes are documented and verifiable, not just “we cleaned it up.”