Essential PHP Security: A Guide to Building Secure Web Applications

by Chris Shiflett

Overview

Being highly flexible in building dynamic, database-driven web applications makes the PHP programming language one of the most popular web development tools in use today. It also works beautifully with other open source tools, such as the MySQL database and the Apache web server. However, as more web sites are developed in PHP, they become targets for malicious attackers, and developers need to prepare for the attacks.

Security is an issue that demands attention, given the growing frequency of attacks on web sites. Essential PHP Security explains the most common types of attacks and how to write code that isn't susceptible to them. By examining specific attacks and the techniques used to protect against them, you will have a deeper understanding and appreciation of the safeguards you are about to learn in this book.

In the much-needed (and highly-requested) Essential PHP Security, each chapter covers an aspect of a web application (such as form processing, database programming, session management, and authentication). Chapters describe potential attacks with examples and then explain techniques to help you prevent those attacks.

Topics covered include:

• Preventing cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities
• Protecting against SQL injection attacks
• Complicating session hijacking attempts

You are in good hands with author Chris Shiflett, an internationally-recognized expert in the field of PHP security. Shiflett is also the founder and President of Brain Bulb, a PHP consultancy that offers a variety of services to clients around the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780596552671
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	10/13/2005
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	130
Sales rank:	862,701
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Chris Shiflett, an internationally recognized expert in the field of PHP security, is the founder and President of Brain Bulb, a PHP consultancy. Chris has been developing web applications with PHP for several years and regularly speaks at OSCON, ApacheCon, and PHP users conferences in North America. He is the author of the HTTP Developer's Handbook (Sams) and writes frequently about web application security. As an open source advocate, he maintains several open source projects and is a member of the PHP development team.

Table of Contents

Foreword; Preface; What's Inside; Style Conventions; Comments and Questions; Safari Enabled; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1: Introduction; 1.1 PHP Features; 1.2 Principles; 1.3 Practices; Chapter 2: Forms and URLs; 2.1 Forms and Data; 2.2 Semantic URL Attacks; 2.3 File Upload Attacks; 2.4 Cross-Site Scripting; 2.5 Cross-Site Request Forgeries; 2.6 Spoofed Form Submissions; 2.7 Spoofed HTTP Requests; Chapter 3: Databases and SQL; 3.1 Exposed Access Credentials; 3.2 SQL Injection; 3.3 Exposed Data; Chapter 4: Sessions and Cookies; 4.1 Cookie Theft; 4.2 Exposed Session Data; 4.3 Session Fixation; 4.4 Session Hijacking; Chapter 5: Includes; 5.1 Exposed Source Code; 5.2 Backdoor URLs; 5.3 Filename Manipulation; 5.4 Code Injection; Chapter 6: Files and Commands; 6.1 Traversing the Filesystem; 6.2 Remote File Risks; 6.3 Command Injection; Chapter 7: Authentication and Authorization; 7.1 Brute Force Attacks; 7.2 Password Sniffing; 7.3 Replay Attacks; 7.4 Persistent Logins; Chapter 8: Shared Hosting; 8.1 Exposed Source Code; 8.2 Exposed Session Data; 8.3 Session Injection; 8.4 Filesystem Browsing; 8.5 Safe Mode; Appendix A: Configuration Directives; A.1 allow_url_fopen; A.2 disable_functions; A.3 display_errors; A.4 enable_dl; A.5 error_reporting; A.6 file_uploads; A.7 log_errors; A.8 magic_quotes_gpc; A.9 memory_limit; A.10 open_basedir; A.11 register_globals; A.12 safe_mode; Appendix B: Functions; B.1 eval(); B.2 exec(); B.3 file(); B.4 file_get_contents(); B.5 fopen(); B.6 include; B.7 passthru(); B.8 phpinfo(); B.9 popen(); B.10 preg_replace(); B.11 proc_open(); B.12 readfile(); B.13 require; B.14 shell_exec(); B.15 system(); Appendix C: Cryptography; C.1 Storing Passwords; C.2 Using mcrypt; C.3 Storing Credit Card Numbers; C.4 Encrypting Session Data; About the Author; Colophon;