What is the potential issue with using $_POST within an included file in PHP?

When using $_POST within an included file in PHP, the potential issue is that the included file may not have access to the $_POST superglobal if it's included before the form submission. To solve this issue, you can pass the $_POST data as a parameter to the included file or use a session variable to store the form data. 

// main_file.php
if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
    session_start();
    $_SESSION['form_data'] = $_POST;
    include 'included_file.php';
}

// included_file.php
session_start();
if (isset($_SESSION['form_data'])) {
    $formData = $_SESSION['form_data'];
    // Use $formData as needed
}

Keywords

$_POST included file variable scope security vulnerability data manipulation

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