How can PHP developers ensure secure user authentication and authorization in their applications?

To ensure secure user authentication and authorization in PHP applications, developers should use secure password hashing algorithms like bcrypt, implement CSRF protection, use prepared statements to prevent SQL injection attacks, and validate user input to prevent XSS attacks.

// Secure user authentication with bcrypt password hashing
$password = $_POST['password'];
$hashed_password = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_BCRYPT);

// Validate user input to prevent XSS attacks
$username = htmlspecialchars($_POST['username'], ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8');

// Implement CSRF protection
session_start();
$token = bin2hex(random_bytes(32));
$_SESSION['csrf_token'] = $token;

// Use prepared statements to prevent SQL injection attacks
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :username");
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $username);
$stmt->execute();
$user = $stmt->fetch();