What potential security risks are associated with using the $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"] variable in PHP scripts for file operations?

Using the $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"] variable directly in PHP scripts for file operations can pose a security risk as it is user-controlled data and can be manipulated by attackers to access sensitive files on the server. To mitigate this risk, it is recommended to sanitize and validate the input before using it in file operations. 

// Sanitize and validate the $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"] variable before using it for file operations
$request_uri = filter_var($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"], FILTER_SANITIZE_URL);

// Example usage of the sanitized variable
$file_path = '/path/to/files/' . $request_uri;
$file_contents = file_get_contents($file_path);

Keywords

$_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"] security risks file operations PHP scripts vulnerabilities

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