What are some common pitfalls when setting up an administrator login system in PHP using MySQL databases?

One common pitfall when setting up an administrator login system in PHP using MySQL databases is not properly sanitizing user inputs, leaving the system vulnerable to SQL injection attacks. To solve this issue, always use prepared statements or parameterized queries to securely interact with the database.

// Connect to the database
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "username", "password", "database");

// Prepare the SQL statement using a prepared statement
$stmt = $mysqli->prepare("SELECT * FROM admins WHERE username = ? AND password = ?");
$stmt->bind_param("ss", $username, $password);

// Sanitize user inputs
$username = mysqli_real_escape_string($mysqli, $_POST['username']);
$password = mysqli_real_escape_string($mysqli, $_POST['password']);

// Execute the prepared statement
$stmt->execute();

// Check if the user is an administrator
$result = $stmt->get_result();
if ($result->num_rows == 1) {
    // Administrator login successful
} else {
    // Administrator login failed
}

// Close the prepared statement and database connection
$stmt->close();
$mysqli->close();