Security – Dangerous PHP Functions

I am setting up a server with wordpress. Reading on php security there are some functions which are recommended to be disabled in php.ini. Example being exec(), curl_exec()

However I can see these functions are being used in the wordpress codebase (wp-includes folder)

exec() (class-snoopy.php) & curl_exec() (class-wp-http-curl.php)

Would this mean I have no choice but to keep this functions enabled for wp to work?