What are the potential security risks of using shell_exec in PHP to execute system commands?

Using shell_exec in PHP to execute system commands can pose a significant security risk as it allows for the execution of arbitrary commands on the server. This can lead to potential vulnerabilities such as command injection attacks. To mitigate this risk, it is recommended to use more secure alternatives such as the PHP functions exec() or passthru(), which provide more control over the command execution. 

// Using the exec() function instead of shell_exec() for improved security
$output = array();
exec('ls -la', $output);
foreach($output as $line){
    echo $line . "<br>";
}

Keywords

shell_exec security risks system commands PHP execute

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