What are the potential security risks associated with using file_get_contents in PHP for version checking?

When using file_get_contents in PHP for version checking, there is a potential security risk of allowing arbitrary files to be fetched from remote servers, which could lead to remote code execution or other vulnerabilities. To mitigate this risk, it is recommended to validate and sanitize the URL before using file_get_contents to fetch the file. 

$version_url = 'https://example.com/version.txt';

// Validate and sanitize the URL before using file_get_contents
if (filter_var($version_url, FILTER_VALIDATE_URL)) {
    $version = file_get_contents($version_url);
    
    // Process the fetched version data
    // ...
} else {
    echo 'Invalid version URL';
}

Keywords

file_get_contents PHP security risks version checking vulnerability

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