What potential security risks should be considered when attempting to control user navigation in PHP?
When attempting to control user navigation in PHP, potential security risks to consider include unauthorized access to restricted pages, bypassing authentication checks, and injection attacks if user input is not properly sanitized. To mitigate these risks, always validate user input, use session management to track user authentication status, and implement access control checks on each page.
// Example of checking user authentication status before allowing access to a restricted page
session_start();
if(!isset($_SESSION['authenticated']) || $_SESSION['authenticated'] !== true) {
header('Location: login.php');
exit();
}