Are there any potential pitfalls to using PHP for URL redirection?

One potential pitfall of using PHP for URL redirection is the risk of open redirects, where an attacker can manipulate the URL to redirect users to malicious websites. To prevent this, always validate and sanitize user input before using it in a redirect. Additionally, consider using a whitelist approach to only allow redirection to specific URLs. 

// Validate and sanitize user input for URL redirection
$redirectUrl = filter_var($_GET['url'], FILTER_SANITIZE_URL);

// Whitelist approach to only allow redirection to specific URLs
$allowedUrls = array('https://example.com', 'https://example2.com');
if (in_array($redirectUrl, $allowedUrls)) {
    header("Location: $redirectUrl");
    exit();
} else {
    echo "Invalid URL";
}

Keywords

PHP URL redirection header function HTTP status codes security vulnerabilities

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