What are the best practices for implementing whitelist validation in PHP scripts to prevent unauthorized access to files?
Whitelist validation in PHP scripts is a security measure used to restrict access to files based on a predefined list of allowed resources. To implement whitelist validation, create an array of allowed file paths and check if the requested file is in the whitelist before allowing access. This helps prevent unauthorized access to sensitive files and directories.
$whitelist = array(
    '/path/to/allowed_file1.txt',
    '/path/to/allowed_file2.txt'
);
$requested_file = $_GET['file']; // Assuming the file path is passed as a query parameter
if (in_array($requested_file, $whitelist)) {
    // Access the file
    echo file_get_contents($requested_file);
} else {
    // Unauthorized access
    echo "Unauthorized access";
}