What are the potential security risks of using HTTP authentication in PHP?

Using HTTP authentication in PHP can pose security risks such as sending credentials in plain text, making them vulnerable to interception. To mitigate this risk, it is recommended to use HTTPS along with HTTP authentication to encrypt the data being transmitted. 

// Implementing HTTP authentication with HTTPS
if (!isset($_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_USER'])) {
    header('WWW-Authenticate: Basic realm="My Realm"');
    header('HTTP/1.0 401 Unauthorized');
    echo 'Text to send if user hits Cancel button';
    exit;
} else {
    // Validate the username and password here
}

Keywords

HTTP authentication security risks PHP vulnerabilities authentication mechanisms

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