Extra arguments passed to getChildren() cause inconsistent plugin behavior

[mohammadbharmal]

Summary

Preconditions:

• Magento Open Source 2.4.x (verified on 2.4.7 and 2.4-develop)
• Clean installation, no custom overrides required

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Review \Magento\Catalog\Model\Category where getChildren() is called:

$this->getResource()->getChildren($this, $recursive, $isActive, $sortByPosition);

2. Open \Magento\Catalog\Model\ResourceModel\Category and observe the method signature:

public function getChildren($category, $recursive = true)
{
    ...
}

3. Notice that only 2 parameters are defined in the resource model, but 4 are being passed.

4. Generated interceptors include:

public function getChildren($category, $recursive = true)
{
    $pluginInfo = $this->pluginList->getNext($this->subjectType, 'getChildren');
    return $pluginInfo
        ? $this->___callPlugins('getChildren', func_get_args(), $pluginInfo)
        : parent::getChildren($category, $recursive);
}

5. Create a plugin for getChildren() that uses $proceed() — observe argument mismatches or confusion about expected parameters.

Expected Result:

Method signatures between model and resource model should align, or Documentation (PHPDoc / comment) should clarify that extra parameters are intentionally passed for backward compatibility.

Plugin developers should not face uncertainty about argument counts.

Actual Result:

• 4 parameters are passed while only 2 are defined.
• The interceptor passes all via func_get_args(), which can, confuse plugin developers, produce argument mismatches when $proceed() is used, /and reduce IDE/static analysis accuracy.

Examples

1. Review \Magento\Catalog\Model\Category where getChildren() is called:

$this->getResource()->getChildren($this, $recursive, $isActive, $sortByPosition);

2. Open \Magento\Catalog\Model\ResourceModel\Category and observe the method signature:

public function getChildren($category, $recursive = true)
{
    ...
}

Proposed solution

No response

Release note

No response

Triage and priority

• Severity: S0 - Affects critical data or functionality and leaves users without workaround.
• Severity: S1 - Affects critical data or functionality and forces users to employ a workaround.
• Severity: S2 - Affects non-critical data or functionality and forces users to employ a workaround.
• Severity: S3 - Affects non-critical data or functionality and does not force users to employ a workaround.
• Severity: S4 - Affects aesthetics, professional look and feel, “quality” or “usability”.

[m2-assistant]

Hi @mohammadbharmal. Thank you for your report.
To speed up processing of this issue, make sure that the issue is reproducible on the vanilla Magento instance following Steps to reproduce.

• For more details, review the Magento Contributor Assistant documentation.
• Add a comment to assign the issue: @magento I am working on this
• To learn more about issue processing workflow, refer to the Code Contributions.

---

Join Magento Community Engineering Slack and ask your questions in #github channel.
⚠️ According to the Magento Contribution requirements, all issues must go through the Community Contributions Triage process. Community Contributions Triage is a public meeting.
🕙 You can find the schedule on the Magento Community Calendar page.
📞 The triage of issues happens in the queue order. If you want to speed up the delivery of your contribution, join the Community Contributions Triage session to discuss the appropriate ticket.

[m2-assistant]

Hi @engcom-Hotel. Thank you for working on this issue.
In order to make sure that issue has enough information and ready for development, please read and check the following instruction: 👇

• 1. Verify that issue has all the required information. (Preconditions, Steps to reproduce, Expected result, Actual result).
• 2. Verify that issue has a meaningful description and provides enough information to reproduce the issue.
• 3. Add Area: XXXXX label to the ticket, indicating the functional areas it may be related to.
• 4. Verify that the issue is reproducible on 2.4-develop branch
  Details

  - If the issue is reproducible on 2.4-develop branch, please, add the label Reproduced on 2.4.x.
  - If the issue is not reproducible, add your comment that issue is not reproducible and close the issue and stop verification process here!
• 5. Add label Issue: Confirmed once verification is complete.
• 6. Make sure that automatic system confirms that report has been added to the backlog.

[engcom-Hotel]

Hello @mohammadbharmal,

Thank you for your report and collaboration!

We have tried to reproduce this issue via debug the code from the category listing page. And it seems this is working as expected.

When code hits to its interceptor, the $pluginInfo contains null, so it will run the second part of the code which is passing 2 arguments only:

return $pluginInfo ? $this->___callPlugins('getChildren', func_get_args(), $pluginInfo) : parent::getChildren($category, $recursive);

So it seems it is working as expected. Please let us know if we missed anything.

Thank you

[mohammadbharmal]

Hello @engcom-Hotel ,

You’re absolutely right that this is not a runtime or functional bug in normal operation, it behaves passively and doesn’t affect Magento execution flow until a plugin targets the getChildren() method.

However, the real issue begins when $pluginInfo is not null, i.e., when at least one plugin is declared for this method.

In that case, this block of generated code executes:

$pluginInfo = $this->pluginList->getNext($this->subjectType, 'getChildren'); return $pluginInfo ? $this->___callPlugins('getChildren', func_get_args(), $pluginInfo) : parent::getChildren($category, $recursive);

Here’s what happens internally:

• func_get_args() captures all arguments passed to the method, even if the base class defines fewer.

• These arguments are then passed to all registered plugins through the interceptor’s ___callPlugins() method.

• The plugins’ before, around, and after interceptors receive these arguments as-is, regardless of the parent method signature.

This means:

• Plugin developers might incorrectly assume $isActive and $sortByPosition are officially supported parameters because they are visible in func_get_args().

• If a plugin developer calls $proceed($category, $recursive) (without extra args), the subsequent execution loses $isActive and $sortByPosition, which can cause unpredictable behaviour depending on which implementation (core or extended) handles the call.

So, while the issue is non-blocking and backward compatible, it represents a developer experience inconsistency between:

• The method signature (public function getChildren($category, $recursive = true))

• The actual call site (getChildren($this, $recursive, $isActive, $sortByPosition))

• The runtime argument handling via interceptors (func_get_args())

This can make plugin development forCategory::getChildren()fragile or confusing, especially for developers not aware of this silent mismatch.