Apache :: Apache 2.4.66 VS18 httpd crashes PHP 8.5.1

danielruf · Joined: 07 Jan 2026 Posts: 6

Maybe my information was incomplete, but I did not just start and stop but also thouroughly tested my application.

I will keep an eye on my setup and come back here, if I see the same crashes.

To me it sounds like some memory leak or something else that takes some time to occur.

So far I did not see further reports, so at least it seems to be some isolated issue (at least this is my current assumption).

Not sure if any httpd.conf related issue is relevant, maybe the Windows error logging has more details.

axel.kam · Joined: 11 Jul 2023 Posts: 11

httpd 2.4.66 ( Apache Lounge VS18 erver built: Jan 30 2026 15:51:08 ) crash once or twice per day, in log: exited with status 3221226356, or sometimes 255.
in windows log: httpd.exe and ntdll.dll

I've been experimenting for two weeks now, httpd still crashed periodicaly

not sure, that problem with php module or fcgid

RikasMalinka · Joined: 07 Jan 2026 Posts: 6 Location: Poland

After checking the installation file by file, I found conflicting DLL versions.
I plan to replace them with 3.6.1 tonight and will continue observing the behavior.

php-cgi.exe and httpd.exe use different OpenSSL DLL versions.

https://blach-steel.pl/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/nok.png

https://blach-steel.pl/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/ok.png

danielruf · Joined: 07 Jan 2026 Posts: 6

The mentioned errorcode points to heap corruption (memory).

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25987792/process-get-exited-with-return-value-3221226356

See also https://www.apachelounge.com/viewtopic.php?t=9331 which points to a few possible solutions.

The PHP 8.5.2 version that I use is from https://www.php.net/downloads.php?usage=web&os=windows&osvariant=windows-downloads

Maybe check which PHP modules you have enabled using php -m.

php -m
[PHP Modules]
apcu
bcmath
bz2
calendar
Core
ctype
curl
date
dom
exif
fileinfo
filter
ftp
gd
gettext
gmp
hash
iconv
imap
intl
json
ldap
lexbor
libxml
mbstring
mysqli
mysqlnd
openssl
pcre
PDO
pdo_mysql
pdo_sqlite
pdo_sqlsrv
Phar
random
readline
Reflection
session
SimpleXML
soap
sockets
sodium
SPL
sqlite3
sqlsrv
standard
tidy
tokenizer
uri
win32service
xdebug
xml
xmlreader
xmlwriter
xsl
Zend OPcache
zip
zlib

[Zend Modules]
Xdebug
Zend OPcache

RikasMalinka · Joined: 07 Jan 2026 Posts: 6 Location: Poland

Crafted · Joined: 04 Feb 2026 Posts: 9

that was to be expected, if you really wanna try something you probably gonna recompile the whole package most likely and replace there openssl, however I just gived up, just waiting for a proper version.

admin · Site Admin Joined: 15 Oct 2005 Posts: 723

What about other versions of PHP ?

tangent · Moderator Joined: 16 Aug 2020 Posts: 419 Location: UK

Re this "heap" problem, and who's responsible for the HTTPD process crashing; OpenSSL, PHP, other?

RikasMalinka's initial post shows an event log entry with ntdll.dll as the culprit, but we know that kernel based DLL is at the end of the line. A stack trace of the calling processes would help here, so a dump of the process at crash time is required.

In the absence of complex debugging tools, I'd consider using SysInternals ProcDump and MS WinDbg utilities to try and localise which module is to blame.

If possible, starting with ProcDump (https://download.sysinternals.com/files/Procdump.zip), configure it to create a dump file. In an administrator command window, enable ProcDump and then set it up to capture an unhandled exception from the running httpd.exe process.