What are some potential security risks of allowing direct access to included PHP files?

Allowing direct access to included PHP files can pose a security risk as it exposes sensitive information and functionality to unauthorized users. To mitigate this risk, it is recommended to use a constant to define a flag in the included files and check for this flag before executing any code. This way, the included files can only be accessed when included within the main PHP file. 

define('MY_APP', true);

if(!defined('MY_APP')){
    die('Direct access not allowed');
}

// Rest of the code in the included file

Keywords

file inclusion vulnerability remote code execution PHP include function input validation cross-site scripting

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