What are the potential pitfalls of using chdir() in PHP scripts?

Using chdir() in PHP scripts can lead to potential security vulnerabilities, such as directory traversal attacks. It is important to sanitize user input and validate the path before changing directories to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive files on the server. One way to mitigate this risk is to use absolute paths instead of relative paths when calling chdir().

$directory = '/path/to/directory';

if (is_dir($directory)) {
    chdir($directory);
    // Perform operations in the specified directory
} else {
    // Handle invalid directory input
}