What best practices should be followed when using the exec() function in PHP to avoid errors or security vulnerabilities?

When using the exec() function in PHP, it is important to sanitize user input to prevent command injection attacks. Additionally, it is recommended to use escapeshellarg() function to escape any arguments passed to exec() to prevent shell injection vulnerabilities. Lastly, limit the commands that can be executed using exec() to only those that are necessary for the application's functionality. 

$user_input = $_POST['user_input'];
$escaped_input = escapeshellarg($user_input);
exec("some_command " . $escaped_input);

Keywords

exec function PHP security vulnerabilities error handling input validation

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