4.0.2 - 2026-08-06

[jrfnl]

This is a security release and all users are advised to update their install(s) as soon as possible.
The security issue only affects users of the Gitblame, Hgblame or Svnblame report(s).

Added

• Tokenizer support for the PHP 8.5 (void) cast. PHP 8.5 | Tokenizer/PHP: polyfill the (void) cast  #1325
  The T_VOID_CAST token has been added to the Tokens::CAST_TOKENS array.
• suggest section to the composer.json file to inform users about the recommended iconv and pcntl PHP extensions. Add suggest section to composer.json for recommended extensions #1388
  • Thanks to Rodrigo Primo for the patch.

Changed

• Clarified that libxml is a required PHP extension. Composer: clarify that the PHP libxml extension is required #1409
• Squiz.Scope.StaticThisUsage: the sniff will now also search for the use of $this in static closures. Squiz/StaticThisUsage: improve handling of anonymous functions #1377
• The Generic.PHP.LowerCaseKeyword, Generic.WhiteSpace.LanguageConstructSpacing and Squiz.Functions.FunctionDeclarationArgumentSpacing sniffs no longer embed UTF-8 middot characters for spaces in error messages. Generic/LowerCaseKeyword: remove unnecessary use of prepareForOutput() #1379, Sniffs: exclude space from prepareForOutput() in error messages #1389 Fixes Squiz/#2652.
  • Thanks to Rodrigo Primo for the patches.
• PSR2.ControlStructures.SwitchDeclaration: the error message for the use of colon + curly braces (WrongOpener*) has been made more informative. PSR2 WrongOpenercase with colon and bracket is unclear #1358. Fixes PSR2.ControlStructures.SwitchDeclaration.WrongOpenercase with colon and bracket is unclear #1322.
  • Thanks to Sule-Balogun Olanrewaju for the patch.
• The error messages for the following sniffs have been improved by exposing more data placeholders:
  • PEAR.Functions.FunctionDeclaration PEAR/FunctionDeclarationSniff: use placeholders in error messages #1445
    • The CloseBracketLine error message now exposes 1 data value (previously 0).
    • The EmptyLine error message now exposes 1 data value (previously 0).
    • The Indent error message now exposes 3 data values (previously 2).
    • These changes also affect the same error codes for the PSR12.Classes.AnonClassDeclaration and Squiz.Functions.MultiLineFunctionDeclaration sniffs.
  • PSR2.Classes.ClassDeclaration PSR2/ClassDeclarationSniff: use placeholders in error messages #1446
    • The ExtendsLine and ImplementsLine error messages now expose 3 data values (previously 1).
    • The SpaceBeforeExtends and SpaceBeforeImplements error messages now expose 2 data values (previously 1).
    • These changes also affect the same error codes for the PSR12.Classes.AnonClassDeclaration and Squiz.Classes.ClassDeclaration sniffs.
  • PSR2.ControlStructures.SwitchDeclaration PSR2/SwitchDeclarationSniff: use placeholders in error messages #1447
    • The defaultNotLower and caseNotLower error messages now expose 3 data values (previously 2).
    • The SpaceBeforeColonDEFAULT and SpaceBeforeColonCASE error messages now expose 1 data value (previously 0).
    • The BodyOnNextLineDEFAULT and BodyOnNextLineCASE error messages now expose 1 data value (previously 0).
    • The WrongOpenerdefault and WrongOpenercase error messages now expose 1 data value (previously 0).
  • Squiz.ControlStructures.SwitchDeclaration Squiz/SwitchDeclarationSniff: use placeholders in error messages #1449
    • The CaseNotLower and DefaultNotLower error messages now expose 3 data values (previously 2).
    • The CaseIndent and DefaultIndent error messages now expose 2 data values (previously 0).
    • The SpaceBeforeColonCase and SpaceBeforeColonDefault error messages now expose 1 data value (previously 0).
    • The BreakIndent error message now exposes 1 data value (previously 0).
    • The SpacingAfterCase and SpacingAfterDefault error messages now expose 1 data value (previously 0).
  • Squiz.Functions.FunctionDeclarationArgumentSpacing Squiz/FunctionDeclarationArgumentSpacing: use placeholders in error messages #1452
    • The SpaceBeforeEquals error message now exposes 3 data values (previously 2).
    • The SpaceAfterEquals error message now exposes 3 data values (previously 2).
  • Squiz.Functions.MultiLineFunctionDeclaration Squiz/MultiLineFunctionDeclaration: use placeholders in error messages #1453
    • The FirstParamSpacing and UseFirstParamSpacing error messages now expose 1 data value (previously 0).
    • The OneParamPerLine and UseOneParamPerLine error messages now expose 1 data value (previously 0).
    • These changes also affect the same error codes for the PSR12.Classes.AnonClassDeclaration sniff.
  • If you have customised the error messages of these sniffs, please review your ruleset after upgrading.
  • Thanks to Zhang WenTao for these patches.
• The following sniff(s) have received efficiency improvements:
  • PSR2.Classes.PropertyDeclaration
  • Thanks to Jonathan Champ for the patch.
• The test suite is now more contributor friendly for contributors on MacOS. Skip case-mismatch ruleset tests on macOS #1437
  • Thanks to Sergei Morozov for the patch.
• Various housekeeping, including improvements to the tests and documentation.
  • Thanks to Dan Wallis, Rodrigo Primo, Sergei Morozov and Juliette Reinders Folmer for their contributions.

Fixed

• SECURITY FIX: Running PHP_CodeSniffer over untrusted files, for example, in a CI pipeline that scans pull requests, or on a developer machine reviewing third-party code, could result in attacker-controlled shell commands being executed when the Gitblame, Hgblame or Svnblame report(s) would process a file whose name contains shell metacharacters. Reports/*blame: properly escape file name #1473
  • Users using the default Full report, or any of the other non-*blame reports, are not affected.
  • For more details, see the security advisory.
  • Thanks go to Faze-up and Volker Dusch for responsibly disclosing the vulnerability.
  • Additionally, thanks go to Volker Dusch, Rodrigo Primo, Dan Wallis and Juliette Reinders Folmer for creating and testing the fix.
• Fixed bug Generic.Strings.UnnecessaryHeredoc incorrectly converts tabs into spaces in heredoc #1320: Generic.Strings.UnnecessaryHeredoc: the fixer could incidentally change tab indentation to space indentation in select lines in the heredoc body.
• Fixed bug Avoid PHP error on parse error in PSR12.Functions.ReturnTypeDeclaration #1354: PSR12.Functions.ReturnTypeDeclaration: prevent an "Undefined array key" warning if the code under scan contains a parse error.
  • Thanks to Dan Wallis for the patch.
• Fixed bug Squiz.Scope.StaticThisUsage false positive for Closure::bind closure inside static method #1357: Squiz.Scope.StaticThisUsage: false positive for usage of $this in non-static closures nested in OO methods.
• Fixed bug PEAR.Functions.FunctionDeclaration gets confused by multi-line block comments inside a function's argument list #1368: PEAR.Functions.FunctionDeclaration: the indentation for subsequent lines in multi-line block comments within a multi-line function signature, would be incorrectly determined, leading to false positives and resulting in a fixer conflict when running phpcbf.
  • This also fixes, by extension, the same issue in the Squiz.Functions.MultiLineFunctionDeclaration sniff.
• Fixed bug Tokenization failure with line comment in ternary #1418: Tokenizer/PHP: tokenization of an inline else colon after an inline comment could fail and/or throw a "Trying to access array offset on null" warning.
  • Thanks to Lazizbek Ergashev for the patch.
• Fixed bug Generic.Formatting.MultipleStatementAlignment fixer fails on a wrapped chained assignment #1435: Generic.Formatting.MultipleStatementAlignment would get into a fixer conflict for multiple assignments within a single statement spanning multiple lines.
  • Same as when the statement would be single-line, alignment of subsequent assignment operators within the same multi-line statement will now be ignored.
  • Thanks to Sergei Morozov for the patch.
• Fixed bug Tokenizer: fatal error when a const name is the last non-empty token in a file #1451: Tokenizer/PHP: prevent an "Undefined array key" warning during live coding when a file ends on the name in a constant declaration.
  • Thanks to Lazizbek Ergashev and Sai Asish Y for the patch.
• Fixed bug Squiz/FunctionDuplicateArgument: fix an "Undefined array key" error for parenthesis-less function declarations #1463: Squiz.Functions.FunctionDuplicateArgument: prevent an "Undefined array key" PHP warning when the sniff encounters a function declaration without parentheses (parse error / live coding).
  • Thanks to Rodrigo Primo for the patch.

Other

• The GPG signature for the PHAR files has been rotated. The new fingerprint is: 5CB4F778BF9BC4FB67AE511D96E91A992CF22FF4.

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New Contributors

The PHP_CodeSniffer project is happy to welcome the following new contributors:
@bigdevlarry, @Faze-up, @jrchamp, @lazerg, @morozov, @ntdiary, @SAY-5

Statistics

Closed: 10 issues
Merged: 33 pull requests

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This discussion was created from the release 4.0.2 - 2026-08-06.