How to prevent PHP files from being downloaded? And what are some ways someone can download them?

Question

How do i prevent php files from being downloaded "illegally" like through the browser. And what are some ways someone can use to download the php files?

Answer 1

You can't really avoid files from being downloaded if your application is not secure. The following example allows a malicious user to view any file on your server:

<?php
readfile($_GET['file']);
?>

If you want to prevent Apache from exposing the source code if something is wrong with PHP, add this in your httpd.conf / .htaccess:

# In case there is no PHP, deny access to php files (for safety)
<IfModule !php5_module>
    <FilesMatch "\.(php|phtml)$">
        Order allow,deny
        Deny from all
    </FilesMatch>
</IfModule>
# the following should be added if you want to parse .php and .phtml file as PHP
# .phps will add syntax highlighting to the file when requesting it with a browser
<IfModule php5_module>
    AddType text/html .php .phtml .phps
    AddHandler application/x-httpd-php .php .phtml
    AddHandler application/x-httpd-php-source .phps
</IfModule>