What are the potential security risks associated with not escaping user input in PHP database queries?

Not escaping user input in PHP database queries can lead to SQL injection attacks, where malicious users can manipulate the query to access, modify, or delete data in the database. To prevent this, always escape user input before using it in a database query by using prepared statements or parameterized queries. 

// Connect to the database
$pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=mydatabase', 'username', 'password');

// Prepare a SQL statement with a placeholder for user input
$stmt = $pdo->prepare('SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :username');

// Bind the user input to the placeholder
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $_POST['username']);

// Execute the query
$stmt->execute();

// Fetch the results
$results = $stmt->fetchAll();

Keywords

SQL injection user input validation prepared statements htmlspecialchars security vulnerabilities

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