What are the potential security risks of using ID vs SessionID for user authentication in PHP?

Using ID for user authentication in PHP can pose security risks because IDs are typically predictable and can be easily guessed or manipulated by attackers. SessionIDs, on the other hand, are randomly generated and provide a higher level of security for user authentication. To mitigate this risk, it is recommended to use SessionIDs for user authentication in PHP instead of plain IDs. 

// Start a new session
session_start();

// Generate a random SessionID for user authentication
$sessionID = bin2hex(random_bytes(16));

// Store the SessionID in the session variable
$_SESSION['sessionID'] = $sessionID;

// Verify user authentication using the SessionID
if ($_SESSION['sessionID'] === $userInputSessionID) {
    // User is authenticated
} else {
    // User is not authenticated
}

Keywords

security risks user authentication PHP ID SessionID

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