What are the potential security risks associated with using exec() function in PHP for network operations?

Using the exec() function in PHP for network operations can pose security risks such as command injection attacks 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.

// Validate and sanitize user input before using exec() function for network operations
$user_input = $_POST['user_input']; // Assuming user input comes from a form submission

// Validate and sanitize user input
$validated_input = filter_var($user_input, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);

// Use the validated and sanitized input in the exec() function
exec("ping " . $validated_input);