Are there potential security risks or pitfalls in using the provided PHP download script?

One potential security risk in the provided PHP download script is the lack of input validation, which can lead to directory traversal attacks. To mitigate this risk, you should ensure that the file path provided by the user is sanitized and restricted to a specific directory. 

// Sanitize and restrict the file path to a specific directory
$baseDir = '/path/to/allowed/directory/';
$filePath = realpath($baseDir . $_GET['file']);

if (strpos($filePath, $baseDir) !== 0) {
    die('Invalid file path');
}

// Download the file
header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="' . basename($filePath) . '"');
readfile($filePath);

Keywords

security risks PHP download script vulnerabilities code injection

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