[php-src] Issue #23050: Segfault in `execute_ex`: `EX(run_time_cache)` is NULL for a trait-copied `private static` method (no opcache, no JIT)

[email protected] (peanutgraphic)
Newsgroups php.bugs
Message-ID <N2VP6p3bCV6wQ8kFeHHSrcrKUwYxtoXdfIiRw6PXV7I@main.internal.php.net>
Issue: https://github.com/php/php-src/issues/23050
Author: peanutgraphic

### Description

We are seeing a reproducible-in-aggregate segfault in the Zend VM on PHP 8.3.31
and 8.3.32 (Ubuntu 24.04, deb.sury.org builds, NTS). It occurs ~36 times/week on
one CI host under a Laravel application served by `php -S` (via
`php artisan serve`). Because the built-in server is a single process, each crash
takes the server down and every subsequent request is refused.

**The engine executes an op_array whose `run_time_cache` is NULL, then performs a
run-time cache slot lookup against it.**

Faulting instruction and registers, from a core dump (8.3.32):

```
=> execute_ex+15353:   mov (%rdx,%rax,1),%rbx
                       rdx = 0x0     <- run-time cache base
                       rax = 0x8     <- cache slot offset
   execute_ex+15357:   test %rbx,%rbx
   execute_ex+15360:   je   ...
```

Read directly from the core:

```
run_time_cache (execute_data + 0x40) = 0x0
```

Kernel log line (identical every time, same binary offset on every occurrence):

```
php8.3[3641252]: segfault at 8 ip ...2a3729 sp ... error 4 in php8.3[...+32f000]
```

`error 4` = user-mode read of a non-present page; the faulting address is
literally `0 + 8`, i.e. slot 1 of a NULL cache.

### The function involved

Frame 0 is always the same PHP function, reached from different callers. Walking
`execute_data` out of the core (`%r14`; `func` at `+0x18`, `prev_execute_data` at
`+0x30`, `function_name` at `+0x08`, `zend_string.val` at `+0x18`):

```
#0  resolveTenantId                      <- always frame 0
#1  {closure}                            (an Eloquent global scope closure)
#2  {closure} -> callScope -> applyScopes
core A: ... -> get -> first -> resolveRouteBinding -> substituteImplicitBindings
core B: ... -> toBase -> __call -> currentAgencyHasStudio -> {closure}
```

`resolveTenantId()` is a **`private static` method defined in a trait**, and that
trait is used by ~68 classes — so the method exists as ~68 separate op_arrays,
each with its own `ZEND_MAP_PTR` run-time cache. It is called on a very hot path
(every scoped query). Its body is small:

```php
private static function resolveTenantId(): int|string|null
{
    if (! function_exists('app')) {
        return null;
    }

    $resolver = app()->bound(TenantResolver::class)
        ? app(TenantResolver::class)
        : null;

    return $resolver?->currentTenantId();
}
```

### Ruled out

- **opcache / JIT** — `opcache.enable_cli => Off`. opcache.so is loaded as a
  module but caches nothing in this SAPI; JIT therefore never engages. (This
  distinguishes it from #22158, which is JIT-specific, and #9396, which requires
  opcache.)
- **`PHP_CLI_SERVER_WORKERS`** — unset; confirmed absent from the core's
  environment, so the experimental forking server is not involved.
- **pcov / xdebug** or any other VM-hooking extension — not among the 65
  extensions loaded in the crashed process.
- **Userland recursion into the same scope** — the class queried by the resolver
  is exempt from the global scope, so there is no re-entry loop.
- **PHP 8.3.33** — its NEWS contains only Date/GD/PGSQL/Phar entries; nothing
  engine-related, so we do not expect it to change this.

### Environment

- PHP 8.3.32 (`8.3.32-1+ubuntu24.04.1+deb.sury.org+1`) and 8.3.31, both NTS, both
  affected, on two separate hosts
- Ubuntu 24.04
- SAPI: `cli-server` (`php -S`)
- opcache loaded, `opcache.enable_cli=Off`, JIT inactive
- 65 extensions loaded

### What I have and what I don't

I have core dumps and can extract any additional structure from them on request
(op_array fields, the `zend_function` at `execute_data+0x18`, the opline, etc.).

**I do not have a minimal reproducer, and I have tried.** The crash is frequent
in aggregate (~5/day) but not deterministic per-request, which is consistent with
an allocation- or lifetime-related issue around the run-time cache rather than a
specific input.

Attempts, both run on the *same* affected binary and host, both **negative**:

1. Structural mimic — one trait with a `private static` method calling
   `function_exists()`, a container-ish helper and a nullsafe method call; 68
   classes using the trait; each invoked through a `static function` closure via
   `call_user_func` (to mirror the global-scope indirection); served by
   `php -S`. **400 requests, ~186k calls: no crash.**
2. Same, scaled to **1500 trait-using classes + 1500 free functions** to force
   `ZEND_MAP_PTR` table growth and reallocation across a long-lived
   `php -S` process. **500 requests: no crash.**

So the trait-copy structure *alone* is not sufficient. Something else in the real
workload is required — plausibly overall arena/memory pressure, the volume of
classes autoloaded per request, or live PDO/session activity. I mention the
negative results explicitly so nobody re-runs the same experiment.

I have the core dumps and can extract any additional structure from them on
request, or run a diagnostic/assertion build against the live workload — that is
likely the fastest route to a fix, since the workload reproduces it reliably in
aggregate even though a reduced case does not.
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