What potential security risks are associated with using sudo in a PHP script for server administration?

Using sudo in a PHP script for server administration can pose security risks as it grants elevated privileges to the script, potentially allowing malicious actors to execute unauthorized commands. To mitigate this risk, it is recommended to carefully review and restrict the commands that the PHP script can execute using sudo.

<?php
// Example of restricting sudo commands in a PHP script
$command = "sudo /path/to/allowed/command";
exec($command, $output, $return_var);
if ($return_var !== 0) {
    // Handle error or unauthorized access
    die("Error: Unauthorized access");
} else {
    // Process the output
    echo implode("\n", $output);
}
?>