What are the potential risks of using PHP functions like mkdir() without proper validation and error handling?

When using PHP functions like mkdir() without proper validation and error handling, there is a risk of encountering issues such as permissions errors, directory already exists errors, or invalid path errors. To mitigate these risks, it is important to validate input data, check for errors returned by the function, and handle them appropriately to ensure the operation is successful.

$directory = "/path/to/directory";

if (!file_exists($directory)) {
    if (!mkdir($directory, 0777, true)) {
        die('Failed to create directory');
    }
} else {
    echo 'Directory already exists';
}