How can XSS vulnerabilities be identified and mitigated in PHP websites?
XSS vulnerabilities in PHP websites can be identified by reviewing the code for any user input that is directly outputted to the browser without proper sanitization. To mitigate XSS vulnerabilities, all user input should be properly sanitized and encoded before being displayed on the website.
// Mitigating XSS vulnerabilities in PHP websites by sanitizing user input
$user_input = $_POST['user_input']; // Assume this is the user input from a form submission
// Sanitize user input using htmlspecialchars function
$sanitized_input = htmlspecialchars($user_input, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8');
// Output the sanitized input to prevent XSS attacks
echo $sanitized_input;