PHPStan rules to detect disallowed calls and more, without running the code.

There are some functions, methods, and constants which should not be used in production code. One good example is var_dump(), it is often used to quickly debug problems but should be removed before commiting the code. And sometimes it's not.

Another example would be a generic logger. Let's say you're using one of the generic logging libraries but you have your own logger that will add some more info, or sanitize data, before calling the generic logger. Your code should not call the generic logger directly but should instead use your custom logger.

This PHPStan extension will detect such usage, if configured. It should be noted that this extension is not a way to defend against or detect hostile developers, as they can obfuscate the calls for example. This extension is meant to be another pair of eyes, detecting your own mistakes, it doesn't aim to detect-all-the-things.

Tests will provide examples what is currently detected. If it's not covered by tests, it might be, but most probably will not be detected. *Test.php files are the tests, start with those, the analyzed test code is in src, required test classes in libs.

Feel free to file issues or create pull requests if you need to detect more calls.

Install the extension using Composer:

composer require --dev spaze/phpstan-disallowed-calls

PHPStan, the PHP Static Analysis Tool, is a requirement.

If you use phpstan/extension-installer, you are all set and can skip to configuration.

For manual installation, add this to your phpstan.neon:

includes:
    - vendor/spaze/phpstan-disallowed-calls/extension.neon

You can start by including disallowed-dangerous-calls.neon in your phpstan.neon:

includes:
    - vendor/spaze/phpstan-disallowed-calls/disallowed-dangerous-calls.neon

disallowed-dangerous-calls.neon can also serve as a template when you'd like to extend the configuration to disallow some other functions or methods, copy it and modify to your needs. You can also allow a previously disallowed dangerous call in a defined path (see below) in your own config by using the same call or method key.

If you want to disable program execution functions (exec(), shell_exec() & friends), include disallowed-execution-calls.neon:

includes:
    - vendor/spaze/phpstan-disallowed-calls/disallowed-execution-calls.neon

I'd recommend you include both:

includes:
    - vendor/spaze/phpstan-disallowed-calls/disallowed-dangerous-calls.neon
    - vendor/spaze/phpstan-disallowed-calls/disallowed-execution-calls.neon

There are four different disallowed types (and configuration keys) that can be disallowed:

1. disallowedMethodCalls - for detecting $object->method() calls
2. disallowedStaticCalls - for static calls Class::method()
3. disallowedFunctionCalls - for functions like function()
4. disallowedConstants - for constants like DateTime::ISO8601 or DATE_ISO8601

Use them to add rules to your phpstan.neon config file. I like to use a separate file (disallowed-calls.neon) for these which I'll include later on in the main phpstan.neon config file. Here's an example, update to your needs:

parameters:
    disallowedMethodCalls:
        -
            method: 'PotentiallyDangerous\Logger::log()'
            message: 'use our own logger instead'
        -
            method: 'Redis::connect()'
            message: 'use our own Redis instead'

    disallowedStaticCalls:
        -
            method: 'PotentiallyDangerous\Debugger::log()'
            message: 'use our own logger instead'

    disallowedFunctionCalls:
        -
            function: 'var_dump()'
            message: 'use logger instead'
        -
            function: 'print_r()'
            message: 'use logger instead'

    disallowedConstants:
        -
            constant: 'DATE_ISO8601'
            message: 'use DATE_ATOM instead'
        -
            constant: 'DateTimeInterface::ISO8601'
            message: 'use DateTimeInterface::ATOM instead'

The message key is optional. Functions and methods can be specified with or without ().

Use wildcard (*) to ignore all functions or methods starting with a prefix, for example:

parameters:
    disallowedFunctionCalls:
        -
            function: 'pcntl_*()'

The wildcard must be the rightmost character of the function or method name, optionally followed by ().

You can treat eval() as a function (although it's a language construct) and disallow it in disallowedFunctionCalls.

To disallow naive object creation (new ClassName() or new $classname), disallow NameSpace\ClassName::__construct in disallowedMethodCalls. Works even when there's no constructor defined in that class.

 ------ --------------------------------------------------------
  Line   libraries/Report/Processor/CertificateTransparency.php
 ------ --------------------------------------------------------
  116    Calling var_dump() is forbidden, use logger instead
 ------ --------------------------------------------------------

Sometimes, the method, the function, or the constant needs to be called or used once in your code, for example in a custom wrapper. You can use PHPStan's ignoreErrors feature to ignore that one call:

ignoreErrors:
    -
        message: '#^Calling Redis::connect\(\) is forbidden, use our own Redis instead#'  # Needed for the constructor
        path: application/libraries/Redis/Redis.php
    -
        message: '#^Calling print_r\(\) is forbidden, use logger instead#'  # Used with $return = true
        paths:
            - application/libraries/Tls/Certificate.php
            - application/libraries/Tls/CertificateSigningRequest.php
            - application/libraries/Tls/PublicKey.php

You can also allow some previously disallowed calls and usages using the allowIn configuration key, for example:

parameters:
    disallowedMethodCalls:
        -
            method: 'PotentiallyDangerous\Logger::log()'
            message: 'use our own logger instead'
            allowIn:
                - path/to/some/file-*.php
                - tests/*.test.php

The paths in allowIn are relative to the config file location and support fnmatch() patterns.

You can also narrow down the allowed items when called with some parameters (doesn't apply to constants for obvious reasons). For example, you want to disallow calling print_r() but want to allow print_r(..., true). This can be done with optional allowParamsInAllowed or allowParamsAnywhere configuration keys:

parameters:
    disallowedMethodCalls:
        -
            method: 'PotentiallyDangerous\Logger::log()'
            message: 'use our own logger instead'
            allowIn:
                - path/to/some/file-*.php
                - tests/*.test.php
            allowParamsInAllowed:
                1: 'foo'
                2: true
            allowParamsAnywhere:
                2: true

When using allowParamsInAllowed, calls will be allowed only when they are in one of the allowIn paths, and are called with all parameters listed in allowParamsInAllowed. With allowParamsAnywhere, calls are allowed when called with all parameters listed no matter in which file. In the example above, the log() method will be disallowed unless called as:

• log(..., true) anywhere
• log('foo', true) in another/file.php or optional/path/to/log.tests.php

If you want to use this PHPStan extension without running any other PHPStan rules, you can use phpstan.neon config file that looks like this (the customRulesetUsed: true and the missing level key are the important bits):

parameters:
    customRulesetUsed: true
includes:
    - vendor/spaze/phpstan-disallowed-calls/extension.neon
    - vendor/spaze/phpstan-disallowed-calls/disallowed-dangerous-calls.neon
    - vendor/spaze/phpstan-disallowed-calls/disallowed-execution-calls.neon

If you want to contribute (awesome, thanks!), you should add/run tests for your contributions. First install dev dependencies by running composer install, then run PHPUnit tests with composer test, see scripts in composer.json. Tests are also run on GitHub with Actions on each push.

There's a similar project with a slightly different configuration, created almost at the same time (just a few days difference): PHPStan Banned Code.