What potential pitfalls should be considered when using HTTP authentication in PHP, and how can they be mitigated?

One potential pitfall when using HTTP authentication in PHP is that credentials are sent in plaintext, making them vulnerable to interception. To mitigate this, it is recommended to use HTTPS to encrypt the communication between the client and server. 

// Enable HTTPS to encrypt communication
if ($_SERVER["HTTPS"] != "on") {
    header("Location: https://" . $_SERVER["HTTP_HOST"] . $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]);
    exit();
}

Keywords

HTTP authentication PHP security vulnerabilities mitigation

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