What are the implications of including system-critical functions in a PHP script that is accessible for download?

Including system-critical functions in a PHP script that is accessible for download can pose a significant security risk. It can potentially allow malicious users to exploit these functions to gain unauthorized access to sensitive system resources or execute harmful commands. To mitigate this risk, it is important to ensure that system-critical functions are not directly accessible from downloadable scripts and implement proper access controls. 

// Restrict access to system-critical functions by checking if the request is coming from an authorized source
if($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] !== '127.0.0.1') {
    die('Access denied');
}

// Your system-critical functions here

Keywords

security vulnerability remote code execution file inclusion privilege escalation

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