What are the potential security risks associated with dynamically changing file paths in PHP scripts?

Potential security risks associated with dynamically changing file paths in PHP scripts include the possibility of directory traversal attacks, where an attacker could manipulate the file path to access sensitive files outside of the intended directory. To mitigate this risk, it is important to sanitize and validate user input before using it to construct file paths in PHP scripts. 

// Sanitize and validate user input before using it to construct file paths
$directory = "/path/to/files/";

// Validate user input to prevent directory traversal attacks
$filename = isset($_GET['filename']) ? $_GET['filename'] : '';
$filename = preg_replace('/\.\.\//', '', $filename); // Remove any "../" sequences

// Construct the full file path
$file_path = $directory . $filename;

// Use the file path in your PHP script
if (file_exists($file_path)) {
    // Process the file
} else {
    // Handle error
}

Keywords

file paths security risks dynamically changing PHP scripts vulnerabilities

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