What are the potential security risks of allowing plugins to access shell_exec in PHP?

Allowing plugins to access shell_exec in PHP can pose a significant security risk as it allows for the execution of shell commands on the server. This can lead to potential vulnerabilities such as command injection attacks, where malicious commands are injected into the shell_exec function. To mitigate this risk, it is recommended to restrict access to shell_exec in plugins and only allow trusted and sanitized commands to be executed.

// Restrict access to shell_exec in plugins
function safe_shell_exec($command) {
    // Add additional checks or restrictions here if needed
    return shell_exec($command);
}