Shared Server Security Issue

There are a variety of security issues that arise when using shared hosting solutions. There are three php.ini directives that remain important in a shared hosting

open_basedir : The open_basedir directive provides the ability to limit the files that PHP can open

to a specified directory tree. When PHP tries to open a file with, for example, fopen()

or include, it checks the the location of the file. If it exists within the directory tree

specified by open_basedir, then it will succeed; otherwise, it will fail to open the file.

disable_functions :  You can disable function like exec, passthru, shell_exec, system etc for security purpose.

disable_classes : You can disable class like DirectoryIterator, Directory for security purpose.

You may set the open_basedir directive in php.ini OR on a per-virtual-host basis in httpd.conf. In the following httpd.conf virtual host example, PHP scripts may only open files located in the /home/user/www and /usr/local/lib/php directories.

<VirtualHost *>
DocumentRoot /home/user/www
ServerName www.example.org
<Directory /home/user/www>
php_admin_value open_basedir "/home/user/www/:/usr/local/lib/php/"
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>