What are some potential pitfalls of using the method described in the PHP forum thread for constructing search strings?

One potential pitfall of using the method described in the PHP forum thread for constructing search strings is the vulnerability to SQL injection attacks. By directly concatenating user input into the SQL query, malicious users can manipulate the query to perform unintended actions on the database. To solve this issue, it is recommended to use prepared statements with parameterized queries to sanitize user input and prevent SQL injection attacks. 

// Original code with vulnerability to SQL injection
$searchTerm = $_GET['search'];
$query = "SELECT * FROM products WHERE name LIKE '%$searchTerm%'";

// Fixed code using prepared statements to prevent SQL injection
$searchTerm = $_GET['search'];
$query = "SELECT * FROM products WHERE name LIKE ?";
$stmt = $pdo->prepare($query);
$stmt->execute(["%$searchTerm%"]);

Keywords

SQL injection security vulnerability user input validation prepared statements data sanitization

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