Upgrade to 2.3 – Internal Server Error 500

Yes.. I am receiving a similar error here on even a BRAND NEW install of 2.3 with a NEW database –

Internal server error, Please contact the host blah blah blah…

I have done over 2 dozen installs of previous WordPress packages for clients and for myself, and have never had a single issue like this with the install.

After contacting the host, here is the details of the error in the server log that it is generating:

ALERT – canary mismatch on efree() – heap overflow detected (attacker ‘**.**.***.*’, file ‘/###/local/home/macsplac/*********.com/NEW/wp-includes/taxonomy.php’, line 11)
[Tue Oct 9 07:29:42 2007] [error] [client **.**.***.*] Premature end of script headers: /###/local/home/macsplac/*********.com/NEW/wp-admin/install.php

The hosting I am using meets the requirements for the install, and I even went into my .htaccess file and bumped the memory used for php to 16mb, and I get the same error.

@mauart – please ask your host to see the logs. You might ask them to increase the amount of PHP memory to 16M.

@macaddict – I’ve seen that problem before but no solution per se: https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/136259

@mauart and @macaddict – could you report back here the version of PHP you are using.

See Finding_server_info for a script that will report the version information.

Thanks in advance for doing that.

Hi: Thanks so much for taking the time to reply….
Have done as you instructed and found that I’ve got PHP Version 5.0.4
My host has contacted me and told me:

This error is likely caused by the new WordPress needing 16MB of php.ini memory, while your account is only currently provisioned with 8MB (the amount needed for the previous version of WordPress). If you like, we can increase your php.ini memory to 16MB.

I have now requested that this be increased in hopes that this will work. Any other suggestions? Should I just be patient and wait for that memory increase to take place and try to run the upgrade script again?

Yes, wait till the host tells you the change is made, then do the upgrade. Please report back with the results.

Thanks for the info.

First off, thanks for replying and trying to help…

But the server I am using reports:

PHP Version 5.2.1

I also increased the memory for PHP to 16M, then 20M via the .htaccess file and this:

php_value memory_limit 20M

and still no change. I still get an “Internal Server Error.”

Should I bag the .htaccess file and use a php.ini file instead??

MacAddict – you can try that though based on a previous thread it may not make a difference:
https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/136259

Please note, the problem you are reporting is likey different than the problem mauart originally posted here.

I don’t know what to do. Apparently it “might” be something to do with this “Suhosin” patch to PHP, but I am not a server admin with that type of training to know what/where/how thats applied. Nor do I have full access to tweak the server to my needs, being as this is a shared hosting reseller account.

In that other post, KentW reported:

The previously cited google search mostly centers around reports for PHP 4.x, citations against PHP 5.x show the issues turned out to be with the script from the ones I read.

Which indicates that the “Suhosin” patch problem should not be happening, being as the server I am using is on PHP 5.x.

So I guess I will have to wait until a future WP version comes out, and try installing that, hoping that this intermittent issue is fixed. Reading other posts in support, other people are receiving “Internal Server Errors” intermittently on this new 2.3 version, even after a successful install.

My older versions of WordPress work fine, but I was interested in staying with the most current versions of WP.

*sigh*

(Oh… and this is a Unix server, not windoze, so there’s no php.ini file I can edit)

That php.ini could be in your /etc folder.

Yeah… unfortunately, I don’t have access to an “/etc” folder, as this is shared hosting. I have used the .htaccess memory override successfully for other accounts, so it’s either A) not the problem here or B) not following my overrride.

Hello to MichaelH:

I waited patiently (this is not one of my natural features!) and my host confirmed the change in PHP memory from 8 to 16MB. I have now run the upgrade script for 2.3 and now have success and the mysterious Database error message has disappeared! YAY! I now go on to upgrade and install a few plugins but that is a whole other matter.

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. I’m going to mark this topic as resolved.
MacAddict, hope you have some luck with your own upgrade.