The ultimate PHP Security Checklist

Damn, but security is hard. It’s not always obvious what needs doing, and the payoffs of good security are at best obscure. Who is surprised when it falls off our priority lists?

This security checklist aims to give developers a list of php security best practices they can follow to help improve the security of their code.

Here is a selection of some of the PHP security checklist items ( Read the full checklist here )

Filter and Validate AllData

Regardless of where the data comes from, whether that’s a configuration file, server environment, GET and POST, or anywhere else, do not trust it. Filter and validate it! Do this by using one of the available libraries, such as zend-inputfilter.

Read more: Validation in Zend Framework Validation in Symfony Validation in Laravel Use Parameterized Queries

To avoid SQL injection attacks, never concatenate or interpolate SQL strings with external data. Use parameterized queries instead and prepared statements. These can be used with vendor-specific libraries or by using PDO.

Learn more: Prepared statements and stored procedures in PDO mysqli Prepared Statements The PostgreSQL pg_query_params function Set open_basedir

The open_basedir directive limits the files that PHP can access to the filesystem from the open_basedir directory and downward. No files or directories outside of that directory can be accessed. That way, if malicious users attempt to access sensitive files, such as /etc/passwd , access will be denied.

Read more: open_basedir configuration directive PHP Filesystem Security Isolated Execution Environments by DigitalOcean Check Your SSL / TLS Configurations

Ensure that your server’s SSL/TLS configuration is up to date and correctly configured, and isn’t using weak ciphers, outdated versions of TLS, valid security certificates without weak keys, etc, by scanning it regularly.

Read more: SSL Labs Observatory by Mozilla Connect to Remote Services With TLS or PublicKeys

When accessing any database, server, or remote services, such as Redis, Beanstalkd, or Memcached, always do so using TLS or public keys. Doing so ensures that only authenticated access is allowed and that requests and responses are encrypted, and data is not transmitted in the clear.

Read more: Public Key Infrastructure and SSL/TLS Encryption What is SSL, TLS and HTTPS? SSL vs. TLS ― What’s the Difference? Do not send sensitive information inheaders

By default PHP will set his version number in the HTTP headers. Some frameworks may do the same as well.

Read more: Hide PHP and Apache informations from HTTP headers Log all thethings

Regardless of whether you’re logging failed login attempts, password resets, or debugging information, make sure that you’re logging, and with an easy to use, and mature package, such as Monolog.