What are the potential drawbacks of using a text file to manage user credentials in PHP?

Storing user credentials in a text file can pose security risks as the file may be accessible to unauthorized users. It is recommended to use a more secure method such as hashing the passwords before storing them in the file. 

// Example of hashing passwords before storing them in a text file
$username = "example_user";
$password = "example_password";

$hashed_password = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_DEFAULT);

$file = fopen("credentials.txt", "a");
fwrite($file, $username . ":" . $hashed_password . "\n");
fclose($file);

Keywords

text file user credentials security risks PHP vulnerabilities

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