Common Mistakes PHP Developers Make (That Create Security Risks)
PHP powers over 70% of the web — WordPress, Laravel, legacy enterprise systems, payment platforms. But it also has a long history of being written dangerously, because bad patterns get copied and passed down for years without anyone stopping to question them.
In this solo episode of Real Dev Live, we break down the most common mistakes PHP developers make — the ones that create security vulnerabilities, slow down applications, and produce codebases nobody wants to maintain.
What we cover:
🔴 SQL injection through unsanitised user input
🔴 Using md5() and sha1() for password hashing
🔴 Poor session management and input validation
🔴 Suppressing errors with the @ operator
🔴 Mixing HTML and PHP logic in the same file
🔴 Not using Composer for dependency management
🔴 And the coding habits that quietly open security holes
This is not a tutorial. This is the honest conversation about what separates PHP done right from PHP done dangerously wrong.