Hexdec - octdec Deprecation Warning and log improvement

Bug Reports
1

WP Cerber PHP 8.3 Compatibility Fixes

Plugin: WP Cerber Security 9.6.11
PHP: 8.3.28 | WordPress: 6.9
Files: cerber-common.php, cerber-load.php, cerber-lab.php

1) hexdec/octdec Deprecation Warning

File: cerber-common.php | Line: 5162

E_DEPRECATED: Invalid characters passed for attempted conversion

Before:

if ( $v[0] == '0' ) {
    $v = ( $v[1] == 'x' || $v[1] == 'X' ) ? hexdec( $v ) : octdec( $v );
}

After:

if ( isset( $v[0] ) && $v[0] == '0' && strlen( $v ) > 1 ) {
    if ( isset( $v[1] ) && ( $v[1] == 'x' || $v[1] == 'X' ) ) {
        $hex_part = substr( $v, 2 );
        if ( $hex_part !== false && preg_match( '/^[0-9a-fA-F]+$/', $hex_part ) ) {
            $v = hexdec( $v );
        } else {
            $v = 0;
        }
    } else {
        $oct_part = substr( $v, 1 );
        if ( $oct_part !== false && preg_match( '/^[0-7]+$/', $oct_part ) ) {
            $v = octdec( $v );
        } else {
            $v = 0;
        }
    }
}

2) Constant Already Defined Warning

File: cerber-common.php | Line: 3992

E_WARNING: Constant DB_NAME already defined

Before:

@eval( $config );

After:

$config = preg_replace(
    "/define\s*\(\s*(['\"])([^'\"]+)\\1/",
    "defined('$2') || define($1$2$1",
    $config
);
@eval( $config );

3) Undefined Array Key HTTP_HOST / REQUEST_METHOD

File: cerber-load.php | Lines: 8067-8068

E_WARNING: Undefined array key "HTTP_HOST"
E_WARNING: Undefined array key "REQUEST_METHOD"

Before:

$uri = $scheme . '://'. $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
$method = crb_sanitize_alphanum( $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] );

After:

$http_host = isset( $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] ) ? $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] : '';
$request_uri = isset( $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] ) ? $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] : '';
$request_method = isset( $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] ) ? $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] : 'GET';

$uri = $scheme . '://'. $http_host . $request_uri;
$method = crb_sanitize_alphanum( $request_method );

4) preg_replace() Null Parameter

File: cerber-common.php | Line: 1389

E_DEPRECATED: preg_replace(): Passing null to parameter #3 ($subject) is deprecated

Before:

function crb_sanitize_alphanum( $value, $check_utf8 = false ) {
    if ( is_array( $value ) ) { ... }
    if ( $check_utf8 && ! preg_match('/^[\x00-\x7F]*$/', $value) ) {
        $value = iconv( 'UTF-8', 'UTF-8//IGNORE', $value );
    }
    return preg_replace( '/\W/', '', $value );
}

After:

function crb_sanitize_alphanum( $value, $check_utf8 = false ) {
    if ( is_array( $value ) ) { ... }
    
    if ( $value === null || $value === '' ) {
        return '';
    }
    $value = (string) $value;
    
    if ( $check_utf8 && ! preg_match('/^[\x00-\x7F]*$/', $value) ) {
        $value = iconv( 'UTF-8', 'UTF-8//IGNORE', $value );
        if ( $value === false ) {
            return '';
        }
    }
    return preg_replace( '/\W/', '', $value );
}

5) Wrong Translation Function _() vs __()

File: cerber-lab.php | Line: 741

E_ERROR: Uncaught ArgumentCountError: _() expects exactly 1 argument, 2 given

Cause: Developer used PHP’s _() (gettext, 1 arg) instead of WordPress’s __() (i18n, 2 args).

Before:

$site_ip = $ret['net_connection_ip'] ?? _( 'Unknown', 'wp-cerber' );

After:

$site_ip = $ret['net_connection_ip'] ?? __( 'Unknown', 'wp-cerber' );

Compatibility

PHP Status
7.4 - 8.4+ :white_check_mark:

Files to Upload

wp-cerber/cerber-common.php
wp-cerber/cerber-load.php
wp-cerber/cerber-lab.php

Performance Enhancement Suggestion

Problem: Database Bloat from Traffic Logging

The cerber_traffic table can grow to 3+ GB on active sites, causing connection errors.

Affected Functions:

Function File Line
cerber_traffic_log() cerber-load.php ~7957
INSERT to CERBER_TRAF_TABLE cerber-load.php ~8241

Suggested: File-Based Logging Option

/wp-content/cerber-logs/
├── traffic-2026-02-01.jsonl
├── traffic-2026-02-02.jsonl
└── .htaccess (deny all)

Recommendation:

  • Keep cerber_log in MySQL (security-critical)
  • Move cerber_traffic to file-based (analytics-only)