PHP 4.0 Bug #5544: native functions cause varable change

From: pshafer@netsolutionsllc.com Operating system: NT4.0 Server SP6a/IIS4 PHP version: 4.0.1pl2 PHP Bug Type: Scripting Engine problem Bug description: native functions cause varable change I have discovered what appears to be a bug that is reproducable in our companie's production environment. We have a user defined function that checks authentication against a database of email addresses and passwords. If the authentication is successfull, the function will return the user ID number. (eg a table with ID,email,password). This function is called teacher_login, and accepts an email address along with an md5-hash of the password. The purpose of the function is to lookup that email address, verify the password and return the uniquie ID for that user. the line $uid = teacher_login($email,md4($password)); assigns the userid to the $uid variable. if the next line is a simple operation, then the script runs as normal. However, if a library(native) function is called, the $uid varable changes its value (note, that $uid is not referenced in the function call). If a user-defined function is called, then the script runs as normal. here is the teacher_login function. function teacher_login($sEmail,$sMD5Pass) { $db = db_connect(); if (!$db) fError("S001",$PHP_SELF,""); $sql = "SELECT id,password FROM teacher WHERE email='$sEmail'"; $query = mssql_query($sql,$db); if (!$query) fError("S002",$PHP_SELF,""); $row = mssql_fetch_array($query); if (!$row[password]) fError("U001",$PHP_SELF,""); if (md5($row[password]) != $sMD5Pass) fError("U002",$PHP_SELF,""); echo "teacher_login:\$row[id] = " . $row[id] . "<br>\n"; return $row[id]; } and here is a snipet of code that causes the error: $uid = teacher_login($email,md5($password)); $session_data[0] = $email; echo urlencode("goober"); //library function echo "\$uid = $uid"; where it is using urlencode, I had originaly used md5 as I was hashing a password. I have tryed several random library functions, and I still get the incorrect UID. If I move the echo "\$uid... line before the library function, then the correct UID is returned.