---
issue: 044
title: "POST /api/marketplace/purchase-requests/:id/final-approval creates dummy payment for testing if no real payment exists — testing backdoor in production code"
severity: major
domain: Purchase Request
labels: [security, bug, backend, major, escrow, bypass]
status: resolved
resolved: 2026-05-29
fix: "Wrapped dummy payment creation in process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production' guard in marketplace/routes.ts — in production the route returns 404 when no real payment exists."
status: open
created: 2026-05-29
source: Doc vs Code Audit 2026-05-29
---

# 🟠 POST /api/marketplace/purchase-requests/:id/final-approval creates dummy payment for testing if no real payment exists — testing backdoor in production code

**Severity:** major
**Domain:** Purchase Request
**Labels:** security, bug, backend, major, escrow, bypass

## Description

The final-approval endpoint in routes.ts (lines 1561-1592) contains logic that creates a dummy Payment document when no real payment is found and the request is in 'delivered' or 'delivery' status. This testing backdoor is undocumented and bypasses the payment integrity check in production.

## Current Behavior

Any request in delivered/delivery status can be final-approved without a real payment by triggering this code path, effectively releasing escrow for unpaid orders.

## Expected Behavior

The dummy payment creation should be guarded by NODE_ENV !== 'production' or removed entirely from production code.

## Affected Files

- `backend/src/routes/routes.ts`

## References

- [Doc vs Code Audit Report](../09%20-%20Audits/Doc%20vs%20Code%20Audit%20Report%20-%202026-05-29.md)
