What potential pitfalls should be considered when including external PHP files that manipulate session data?

When including external PHP files that manipulate session data, potential pitfalls to consider include security vulnerabilities such as session fixation attacks or session hijacking. To mitigate these risks, it is essential to validate and sanitize all input data, use HTTPS to encrypt communication, and implement proper session management techniques like regenerating session IDs after a user logs in or out. 

// Example of how to securely include an external PHP file that manipulates session data

session_start();

// Validate and sanitize input data
$filename = filter_input(INPUT_GET, 'file', FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);

// Check if the file exists before including it
if (file_exists($filename)) {
    include $filename;
} else {
    echo "File not found.";
}

Keywords

session data external PHP files security vulnerabilities include_once session hijacking

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