What potential security risks are associated with executing PHP code stored in a MySQL database?

Executing PHP code stored in a MySQL database can pose significant security risks, such as SQL injection attacks and remote code execution vulnerabilities. To mitigate these risks, it is recommended to avoid storing executable PHP code in the database and instead use proper server-side validation and sanitization techniques.

// Avoid executing PHP code stored in a MySQL database
// Implement proper server-side validation and sanitization techniques
// Example of how to retrieve data from the database without executing PHP code

// Connect to MySQL database
$connection = mysqli_connect("localhost", "username", "password", "database");

// Query to retrieve data from the database
$query = "SELECT column_name FROM table_name WHERE condition = 'value'";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

// Fetch data and output it
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    echo htmlspecialchars($row['column_name']);
}

// Close database connection
mysqli_close($connection);