What are the potential pitfalls of using htaccess for user authentication in PHP?

One potential pitfall of using htaccess for user authentication in PHP is that it relies on the server configuration, which may not be available or allowed on all hosting environments. To ensure more flexibility and control over user authentication, it is recommended to implement authentication within the PHP application itself using session management and password hashing. 

<?php
session_start();

$valid_username = 'admin';
$valid_password = password_hash('password123', PASSWORD_DEFAULT);

if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'POST') {
    $username = $_POST['username'];
    $password = $_POST['password'];

    if ($username == $valid_username && password_verify($password, $valid_password)) {
        $_SESSION['authenticated'] = true;
        header('Location: dashboard.php');
        exit;
    } else {
        echo 'Invalid username or password';
    }
}
?>

Keywords

htaccess user authentication PHP security vulnerabilities error handling

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