What are the potential security risks associated with using the mysql_* extension in PHP for querying user login data?

The mysql_* extension in PHP is deprecated and should not be used due to security vulnerabilities such as SQL injection attacks. To mitigate this risk, it is recommended to use parameterized queries with either PDO or MySQLi extensions, which provide more secure ways to interact with databases. 

// Using PDO to query user login data securely
$dsn = 'mysql:host=localhost;dbname=database';
$username = 'username';
$password = 'password';

try {
    $pdo = new PDO($dsn, $username, $password);
    $stmt = $pdo->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :username AND password = :password");
    $stmt->bindParam(':username', $username);
    $stmt->bindParam(':password', $password);
    $stmt->execute();
    $user = $stmt->fetch();
} catch (PDOException $e) {
    echo "Error: " . $e->getMessage();
}

Keywords

mysql_ extension PHP security risks user login data querying

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