What potential issue is the user facing with the MySQL query in the PHP code?

The potential issue the user is facing with the MySQL query in the PHP code is that the query is vulnerable to SQL injection attacks. To solve this issue, the user should use prepared statements with parameterized queries to prevent SQL injection.

// Original code with potential SQL injection vulnerability
$username = $_POST['username'];
$password = $_POST['password'];

$query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE username='$username' AND password='$password'";
$result = mysqli_query($conn, $query);

// Fixed code using prepared statements
$stmt = $conn->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username=? AND password=?");
$stmt->bind_param("ss", $username, $password);
$stmt->execute();
$result = $stmt->get_result();