What is the most accurate way to retrieve a user's correct IP address in PHP?

Here is a shorter, cleaner way to get the IP address:

function get_ip_address(){
    foreach (array('HTTP_CLIENT_IP', 'HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR', 'HTTP_X_FORWARDED', 'HTTP_X_CLUSTER_CLIENT_IP', 'HTTP_FORWARDED_FOR', 'HTTP_FORWARDED', 'REMOTE_ADDR') as $key){
        if (array_key_exists($key, $_SERVER) === true){
            foreach (explode(',', $_SERVER[$key]) as $ip){
                $ip = trim($ip); // just to be safe

                if (filter_var($ip, FILTER_VALIDATE_IP, FILTER_FLAG_NO_PRIV_RANGE | FILTER_FLAG_NO_RES_RANGE) !== false){
                    return $ip;
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Your code seems to be pretty complete already, I cannot see any possible bugs in it (aside from the usual IP caveats), I would change the validate_ip() function to rely on the filter extension though:

public function validate_ip($ip)
{
    if (filter_var($ip, FILTER_VALIDATE_IP, FILTER_FLAG_NO_PRIV_RANGE | FILTER_FLAG_NO_RES_RANGE) === false)
    {
        return false;
    }

    self::$ip = sprintf('%u', ip2long($ip)); // you seem to want this

    return true;
}

Also your HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR snippet can be simplified from this:

// check for IPs passing through proxies
if (!empty($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR']))
{
    // check if multiple ips exist in var
    if (strpos($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'], ',') !== false)
    {
        $iplist = explode(',', $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR']);
        
        foreach ($iplist as $ip)
        {
            if ($this->validate_ip($ip))
                return $ip;
        }
    }
    
    else
    {
        if ($this->validate_ip($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR']))
            return $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'];
    }
}

To this:

// check for IPs passing through proxies
if (!empty($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR']))
{
    $iplist = explode(',', $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR']);
        
    foreach ($iplist as $ip)
    {
        if ($this->validate_ip($ip))
            return $ip;
    }
}

You may also want to validate IPv6 addresses.

We use:

/**
 * Get the customer's IP address.
 *
 * @return string
 */
public function getIpAddress() {
    if (!empty($_SERVER['HTTP_CLIENT_IP'])) {
        return $_SERVER['HTTP_CLIENT_IP'];
    } else if (!empty($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'])) {
        $ips = explode(',', $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR']);
        return trim($ips[count($ips) - 1]);
    } else {
        return $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
    }
}

The explode on HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR is because of weird issues we had detecting IP addresses when Squid was used.

The biggest question is for what purpose?

Your code is nearly as comprehensive as it could be - but I see that if you spot what looks like a proxy added header, you use that INSTEAD of the CLIENT_IP, however if you want this information for audit purposes then be warned - its very easy to fake.

Certainly you should never use IP addresses for any sort of authentication - even these can be spoofed.

You could get a better measurement of the client ip address by pushing out a flash or java applet which connects back to the server via a non-http port (which would therefore reveal transparent proxies or cases where the proxy-injected headers are false - but bear in mind that, where the client can ONLY connect via a web proxy or the outgoing port is blocked, there will be no connection from the applet.

I do wonder if perhaps you should iterate over the exploded HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR in reverse order, since my experience has been that the user's IP address ends up at the end of the comma-separated list, so starting at the start of the header, you're more likely to get the ip address of one of the proxies returned, which could potentially still allow session hijacking as many users may come through that proxy.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned filter_input, so here is Alix Axel's answer condensed to one-line:

function get_ip_address(&$keys = ['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR', 'HTTP_X_FORWARDED', 'HTTP_X_CLUSTER_CLIENT_IP', 'HTTP_FORWARDED_FOR', 'HTTP_FORWARDED', 'HTTP_CLIENT_IP', 'REMOTE_ADDR'])
{
    return empty($keys) || ($ip = filter_input(INPUT_SERVER, array_pop($keys), FILTER_VALIDATE_IP, FILTER_FLAG_NO_PRIV_RANGE | FILTER_FLAG_NO_RES_RANGE))? $ip : get_ip_address($keys);
}

I know this is too late to answer. But you may try these options:

Option 1: (Using curl)

$ch = curl_init();

// set URL and other appropriate options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "https://ifconfig.me/");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);

// grab URL and pass it to the browser
$ip = curl_exec($ch);

// close cURL resource, and free up system resources
curl_close($ch);

return $ip;

Option 2: (Works good on mac)

return trim(shell_exec("dig +short myip.opendns.com @resolver1.opendns.com"));

Option 3: (Just used a trick)

return str_replace('Current IP CheckCurrent IP Address: ', '', strip_tags(file_get_contents('http://checkip.dyndns.com')));

Might be a reference: https://www.tecmint.com/find-linux-server-public-ip-address/

Though this post very old but the topic still demands attention. So here I come with another solution I used in my project. I found other solutions here either incomplete or too complex to understand.

if (! function_exists('get_visitor_IP'))
{
    /**
     * Get the real IP address from visitors proxy. e.g. Cloudflare
     *
     * @return string IP
     */
    function get_visitor_IP()
    {
        // Get real visitor IP behind CloudFlare network
        if (isset($_SERVER["HTTP_CF_CONNECTING_IP"])) {
            $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] = $_SERVER["HTTP_CF_CONNECTING_IP"];
            $_SERVER['HTTP_CLIENT_IP'] = $_SERVER["HTTP_CF_CONNECTING_IP"];
        }

        // Sometimes the `HTTP_CLIENT_IP` can be used by proxy servers
        $ip = @$_SERVER['HTTP_CLIENT_IP'];
        if (filter_var($ip, FILTER_VALIDATE_IP)) {
           return $ip;
        }

        // Sometimes the `HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR` can contain more than IPs 
        $forward_ips = @$_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'];
        if ($forward_ips) {
            $all_ips = explode(',', $forward_ips);

            foreach ($all_ips as $ip) {
                if (filter_var($ip, FILTER_VALIDATE_IP, FILTER_FLAG_NO_PRIV_RANGE | FILTER_FLAG_NO_RES_RANGE)){
                    return $ip;
                }
            }
        }

        return $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
    }
}

/**
 * Sanitizes IPv4 address according to Ilia Alshanetsky's book
 * "php|architect?s Guide to PHP Security", chapter 2, page 67.
 *
 * @param string $ip An IPv4 address
 */
public static function sanitizeIpAddress($ip = '')
{
if ($ip == '')
    {
    $rtnStr = '0.0.0.0';
    }
else
    {
    $rtnStr = long2ip(ip2long($ip));
    }

return $rtnStr;
}

//---------------------------------------------------

/**
 * Returns the sanitized HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR server variable.
 *
 */
public static function getXForwardedFor()
{
if (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR']))
    {
    $rtnStr = $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'];
    }
elseif (isset($HTTP_SERVER_VARS['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR']))
    {
    $rtnStr = $HTTP_SERVER_VARS['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'];
    }
elseif (getenv('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'))
    {
    $rtnStr = getenv('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR');
    }
else
    {
    $rtnStr = '';
    }

// Sanitize IPv4 address (Ilia Alshanetsky):
if ($rtnStr != '')
    {
    $rtnStr = explode(', ', $rtnStr);
    $rtnStr = self::sanitizeIpAddress($rtnStr[0]);
    }

return $rtnStr;
}

//---------------------------------------------------

/**
 * Returns the sanitized REMOTE_ADDR server variable.
 *
 */
public static function getRemoteAddr()
{
if (isset($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']))
    {
    $rtnStr = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
    }
elseif (isset($HTTP_SERVER_VARS['REMOTE_ADDR']))
    {
    $rtnStr = $HTTP_SERVER_VARS['REMOTE_ADDR'];
    }
elseif (getenv('REMOTE_ADDR'))
    {
    $rtnStr = getenv('REMOTE_ADDR');
    }
else
    {
    $rtnStr = '';
    }

// Sanitize IPv4 address (Ilia Alshanetsky):
if ($rtnStr != '')
    {
    $rtnStr = explode(', ', $rtnStr);
    $rtnStr = self::sanitizeIpAddress($rtnStr[0]);
    }

return $rtnStr;
}

//---------------------------------------------------

/**
 * Returns the sanitized remote user and proxy IP addresses.
 *
 */
public static function getIpAndProxy()
{
$xForwarded = self::getXForwardedFor();
$remoteAddr = self::getRemoteAddr();

if ($xForwarded != '')
    {
    $ip    = $xForwarded;
    $proxy = $remoteAddr;
    }
else
    {
    $ip    = $remoteAddr;
    $proxy = '';
    }

return array($ip, $proxy);
}