What are the potential security risks associated with using the exec() function in PHP for executing commands like cURL?

Using the exec() function in PHP to execute commands like cURL can pose security risks such as command injection if user input is not properly sanitized. To mitigate this risk, it is important to validate and sanitize user input before passing it to the exec() function. 

// Sanitize user input before using it in exec()
$user_input = $_POST['user_input'];
$sanitized_input = escapeshellarg($user_input);

// Execute cURL command with sanitized input
exec("curl " . $sanitized_input);

Keywords

exec function PHP security risks cURL command execution

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