What potential security risks are associated with using the exec function in PHP to execute system commands?

Using the exec function in PHP to execute system commands can pose security risks such as command injection attacks if user input is not properly sanitized. To mitigate this risk, it is important to validate and sanitize user input before passing it to the exec function. 

$user_input = $_POST['user_input'];

// Validate and sanitize user input
$validated_input = escapeshellarg($user_input);

// Execute system command using validated input
exec("command $validated_input");

Keywords

exec function PHP security risks system commands vulnerability

Related Questions