What are some common pitfalls to avoid when working with PHP code on a server?

One common pitfall to avoid when working with PHP code on a server is not properly sanitizing user input, which can lead to security vulnerabilities such as SQL injection or cross-site scripting attacks. To prevent this, always use functions like mysqli_real_escape_string() or prepared statements to sanitize user input before using it in database queries. 

// Example of properly sanitizing user input before using it in a SQL query
$user_input = $_POST['user_input'];
$clean_input = mysqli_real_escape_string($connection, $user_input);

$query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = '$clean_input'";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

Keywords

SQL injection XSS attacks file inclusion vulnerabilities insecure file permissions outdated PHP versions

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