[php-src] Issue #23962: PDO: destroying a persistent PDO instance rolls back a transaction still in use by another instance
| From: | BoyeMagnus | Date: | Mon, 28 Sep 2026 11:02:45 +0000 |
| Subject: | [php-src] Issue #23962: PDO: destroying a persistent PDO instance rolls back a transaction still in use by another instance | ||
| Groups: | php.bugs | ||
| Request: | Send a blank email to php-bugs+get-252839@lists.php.net to get a copy of this message | ||
Issue: https://github.com/php/php-src/issues/23962
Author: BoyeMagnus
### Description
### Description
With
PDO::ATTR_PERSISTENT, several PDO instances with the same DSN share
one connection. Destroying any one of them rolls back that connection's open transaction, even
while another instance is still using it.
The following code:
```php
<?php
$dsn = 'sqlite::memory:';
$a = new PDO($dsn, null, null, [PDO::ATTR_PERSISTENT => true]);
$b = new PDO($dsn, null, null, [PDO::ATTR_PERSISTENT => true]);
$b->beginTransaction();
var_dump($b->inTransaction());
unset($a);
var_dump($b->inTransaction());
$b->commit();
```
Resulted in this output:
```
bool(true)
bool(false)
Fatal error: Uncaught PDOException: There is no active transaction in /path/to/repro.php:13
```
But I expected this output instead:
```
bool(true)
bool(true)
```
The same happens with pdo_pgsql (DSN swapped for a Postgres one, same output), so it doesn't
look driver-specific.
### Cause
pdo_dbh_free_storage() in ext/pdo/pdo_dbh.c rolls back whenever
pdo_is_in_transaction(dbh) is true, and only afterwards calls dbh_free(),
which decrements the persistent handle's refcount and returns early while other
instances still hold it:
```c
if (dbh->driver_data && dbh->methods && dbh->methods->rollback
&& pdo_is_in_transaction(dbh)) {
dbh->methods->rollback(dbh);
dbh->in_txn = false;
}
...
dbh_free(dbh, 0); /* if (!free_persistent && (--dbh->refcount)) return; */
```
So the rollback is applied to the shared connection regardless of whether another instance is still
using it, and regardless of which instance began the transaction. I'd expect the rollback to
happen only when the last instance releases the handle (or at request shutdown, so a transaction
doesn't leak into the next request).
### Impact
Code rarely creates two instances on purpose, but reconnect logic does it implicitly: it creates a
new instance while the old one is still referenced, for example by an exception's trace
arguments. We hit this in Laravel: after a pooled pgsql connection was closed by the server,
Laravel's lost-connection retry reconnected and sent BEGIN, then the old instance
was freed and rolled it back. The application's statements then ran in autocommit mode and
commit() failed with the error above. So it silently loses atomicity rather than just
throwing.
### PHP Version
```plain
PHP 8.5.11 (cli) (built: Sep 22 2026 13:32:06) (NTS)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Built by Homebrew
Zend Engine v4.5.11, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v8.5.11, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies
```
### Operating System
macOS 26 (also seen on Linux aarch64 in AWS Lambda)