ldap_search not working with base=NULL after php7.1

[dab18]

Description

The following code:

<?php
$ds = ldap_connect(); // <-- URI from /etc/openldap/ldap.conf
ldap_set_option($ds, LDAP_OPT_PROTOCOL_VERSION, 3);

$sr = ldap_search($ds, NULL, "(uid=dab)", array("dn"));  // <-- BASE from /etc/openldap/ldap.conf
$entry = ldap_first_entry($ds, $sr);
var_dump($entry);

Resulted in this output:

Warning: ldap_search(): Search: No such object in test.php on line 5

But I expected this output instead:

resource(6) of type (ldap result entry)

/etc/openldap/ldap.conf:
BASE c=ru
URI ldap://localhost

slapd.log:
version <=php7.1
slapd[14091]: conn=4230904 op=0 SRCH base="c=ru" scope=2 deref=0 filter="(uid=dab)"
version >php7.1
slapd[14091]: conn=4230791 op=0 SRCH base="" scope=2 deref=0 filter="(uid=dab)"

related bug&commit:
https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=77958
5d2fe48

PHP Version

PHP 8.0.12

Operating System

gentoo

[cmb69]

It seems that behavioral change happened to due to fixing https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=77958. It might be a good idea to make the $base parameter nullable, to at least partially restore the former behavior.

@MCMic, what do you think?

[MCMic]

Sounds like something that worked by chance, was it ever documented anywhere?
It seems normal to expect a base when searching, and 7.1 is quite old so this has been like this for a lot of versions.

[cmb69]

I don't think that it was ever documented. The latest relevant change to the ldap_search fixed the parameter types from string to array|string.

[dab18]

but it worked
and it's logical
with default options from system configuration files
another option: parse configs?

[dab18]

from openldap:
man 5 ldap.conf
The ldap.conf configuration file is used to set system-wide defaults to be applied when running ldap clients.
BASE Specifies the default base DN to use when performing ldap operations. The base must be specified as a Distinguished Name in LDAP format.

code from openldap/libraries/libldap/search.c:
in function ldap_build_search_req:
if ( base == NULL ) {
/* no base provided, use session default base */
base = ld->ld_options.ldo_defbase;

"session default base" initialized in init.c from config files

it's this behavior openldap-specific only?

[come-nc]

Yes I think it is openldap specific.

[cmb69]

So should we transfer this issue to doc-en?

[dab18]

for ldap_search() only? or ldap_connect() also?
ldap_connect(null) also not fully documented (what uri=null means?),
but gets default uri from /etc/openldap/ldap.conf