PHP 4.0 Bug #8921: Require() function : filename string not terminated correctly internally

From: mahony@cwa.co.nz Operating system: Linux Debian Potato 2.2 PHP version: 4.0.4pl1 PHP Bug Type: Unknown/Other Function Bug description: Require() function : filename string not terminated correctly internally Hi, I've found what appears to be a reproducable bug with random effects. When I pass a seemingly perfect filename string to the Require() function it comes back (2 times out of 3) with extra characters at the end, causing the require function to fail to find the file. The characters are illustrated below, and many seem to be non-alphabetic. It looks like a C string buffer overflow problem (ie: the length of the string has been enlarged by a random amount between about 2 and 5 characters, and it's picking up additional characters directly out of memory). This is the code that is executing : if("" == $inc_filename) { print("You have to enter a filename first !"); } else // NON-Blank include filename { print("Filename = ".$inc_filename); // <<<<< Note : here the filename displays fine require( $inc_filename ); // <<<<< Note : here it is corrupted } These are the output lines I got (note the crap at the end of the filename in the error message) : Filename = inc/britz/britzspg.inc Fatal error: Failed opening required 'inc/britz/britzspg.incÿ¿ñ' (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/ekiwi/public_html/layout.php on line 199 Filename = inc/britz/britzspg.inc Fatal error: Failed opening required 'inc/britz/britzspg.inc)y' (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/ekiwi/public_html/layout.php on line 199 THEN IT WAS OK TWICE, followed by Filename = inc/britz/britzspg.inc Fatal error: Failed opening required 'inc/britz/britzspg.inc'A' (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/ekiwi/public_html/layout.php on line 199 Filename = inc/britz/britzspg.inc Fatal error: Failed opening required 'inc/britz/britzspg.inc)±' (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/ekiwi/public_html/layout.php on line 199 To see this in action see : http://chips.cwa.co.nz:8080/display.php?FEATURE_ID=13 Be aware that it works perfectly about a third of the time, so keep pressing the refresh button on your browser until it throws the error. We're running Linux kernal 2.2.18 Our PHP config details are available at : http://chips.cwa.co.nz/~ian/php.status.php Hope this helps, Simon Mahony, Technical Director, CWA New Media, New Zealand. -- Edit Bug report at: http://bugs.php.net/?id=8921&edit=1