What are the potential pitfalls of using $_POST variables in PHP, especially in relation to database insertion?

Using $_POST variables directly in database queries can make your application vulnerable to SQL injection attacks. To prevent this, you should always sanitize and validate user input before using it in database queries. One way to do this is by using prepared statements with parameterized queries. 

// Assuming you have already established a database connection

// Sanitize and validate user input
$username = filter_var($_POST['username'], FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);
$email = filter_var($_POST['email'], FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL);

// Prepare a SQL statement using a prepared statement
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("INSERT INTO users (username, email) VALUES (:username, :email)");
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $username);
$stmt->bindParam(':email', $email);

// Execute the statement
$stmt->execute();

Keywords

SQL injection data validation prepared statements XSS attacks security vulnerabilities

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