What are the security implications of using $_REQUEST and $GLOBALS in PHP code, and how can they be mitigated?

Using $_REQUEST and $GLOBALS in PHP code can pose security risks as they can be manipulated by users to inject malicious data into the application. To mitigate these risks, it is recommended to use more specific superglobals like $_GET, $_POST, or $_SESSION depending on the intended use case. Additionally, input validation and sanitization should always be performed on user input to prevent attacks such as SQL injection or cross-site scripting. 

// Example of mitigating security risks by using specific superglobals and input sanitization

// Using $_POST instead of $_REQUEST for form data
$username = isset($_POST['username']) ? $_POST['username'] : '';
$password = isset($_POST['password']) ? $_POST['password'] : '';

// Sanitizing user input
$username = filter_var($username, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);
$password = filter_var($password, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);

// Perform further validation and processing

Keywords

$_REQUEST $GLOBALS security implications mitigation PHP code

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