What are the potential security risks of accessing a database with JavaScript in a web-based application?

Accessing a database with JavaScript in a web-based application can expose sensitive information stored in the database to potential security risks such as SQL injection attacks. To mitigate this risk, it is recommended to use server-side languages like PHP to handle database interactions. By using PHP to securely query the database and return only the necessary data to the client-side JavaScript, you can prevent SQL injection attacks and protect sensitive information. 

<?php
// Connect to the database
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "database";

$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

// Check connection
if ($conn->connect_error) {
    die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}

// Query the database securely
$sql = "SELECT * FROM table WHERE id = ?";
$stmt = $conn->prepare($sql);
$stmt->bind_param("i", $id);

$id = $_GET['id']; // Assuming the id is passed from the client-side JavaScript

$stmt->execute();
$result = $stmt->get_result();

// Return data to the client-side JavaScript
$data = $result->fetch_all(MYSQLI_ASSOC);
echo json_encode($data);

$stmt->close();
$conn->close();
?>

Keywords

SQL injection Cross-site scripting AJAX PDO Prepared statements

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