check-timeout-strategy

Timeout Strategy Audit

Analyze PHP code for missing or misconfigured timeout strategies across all I/O boundaries.

Detection Patterns

1. HTTP Client Without Timeout

// CRITICAL: No timeout configured
$client = new GuzzleHttp\Client();
$response = $client->get('https://api.external.com/data');

// CRITICAL: Infinite timeout
$client = new GuzzleHttp\Client(['timeout' => 0]);

// CORRECT: Explicit timeouts
$client = new GuzzleHttp\Client([
    'connect_timeout' => 5,
    'timeout' => 30,
    'read_timeout' => 10,
]);

2. Database Connection Without Timeout

// CRITICAL: No connection timeout
$pdo = new PDO($dsn, $user, $password);

// CRITICAL: No query timeout
$stmt = $pdo->prepare('SELECT * FROM large_table WHERE complex_condition');
$stmt->execute();

// CORRECT: With timeouts
$pdo = new PDO($dsn, $user, $password, [
    PDO::ATTR_TIMEOUT => 5,
    PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_READ_TIMEOUT => 30,
]);

// Doctrine: query timeout
$connection->executeStatement('SET SESSION wait_timeout = 30');

3. Queue Consumer Without Timeout

// CRITICAL: Blocking forever
$message = $queue->consume(); // No timeout — blocks indefinitely

// CRITICAL: No processing timeout
while ($message = $queue->get()) {
    $this->handler->handle($message); // Could run forever
}

// CORRECT: With timeouts
$message = $queue->consume(timeout: 30);

// Processing timeout
$signal = pcntl_alarm(60); // 60-second processing limit
$this->handler->handle($message);
pcntl_alarm(0); // Cancel alarm

4. Cache Operations Without Timeout

// CRITICAL: Redis without timeout
$redis = new Redis();
$redis->connect('redis-host', 6379); // No timeout

// CRITICAL: Blocking wait
$value = $redis->blPop('queue', 0); // Block forever

// CORRECT: With timeouts
$redis->connect('redis-host', 6379, 2.5); // 2.5s connect timeout
$redis->setOption(Redis::OPT_READ_TIMEOUT, 5);
$value = $redis->blPop('queue', 30); // 30s max block

5. External API Without Timeout

// CRITICAL: file_get_contents without timeout
$data = file_get_contents('https://api.example.com/data');

// CRITICAL: curl without CURLOPT_TIMEOUT
$ch = curl_init('https://api.example.com/data');
curl_exec($ch);

// CORRECT: With stream context timeout
$context = stream_context_create([
    'http' => ['timeout' => 10],
]);
$data = file_get_contents('https://api.example.com/data', false, $context);

// CORRECT: curl with timeout
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 5);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 30);

6. Lock/Mutex Without Timeout

// CRITICAL: Lock without timeout — potential deadlock
$lock->acquire(); // Blocks forever if not released

// CORRECT: With timeout
if (!$lock->acquire(timeout: 10)) {
    throw new LockTimeoutException('Failed to acquire lock within 10 seconds');
}

Grep Patterns

# HTTP clients without timeout
Grep: "new.*Client\(\)|new.*GuzzleHttp|new.*HttpClient" --glob "**/*.php"
Grep: "connect_timeout|timeout.*=>" --glob "**/Infrastructure/**/*.php"

# Database connections
Grep: "new PDO\(|DriverManager::getConnection" --glob "**/*.php"
Grep: "ATTR_TIMEOUT|wait_timeout|read_timeout" --glob "**/*.php"

# Queue consumers
Grep: "->consume\(|->get\(|->receive\(" --glob "**/Consumer/**/*.php"
Grep: "pcntl_alarm|set_time_limit" --glob "**/*.php"

# Cache/Redis
Grep: "->connect\(|Redis\(\)|Memcached\(\)" --glob "**/*.php"
Grep: "OPT_READ_TIMEOUT|blPop|brPop" --glob "**/*.php"

# file_get_contents / curl
Grep: "file_get_contents\(.*http|curl_init" --glob "**/*.php"
Grep: "CURLOPT_TIMEOUT|CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT" --glob "**/*.php"

# Lock acquisition
Grep: "->acquire\(|->lock\(|flock\(" --glob "**/*.php"

Severity Classification

Pattern	Severity
HTTP client without timeout	🔴 Critical
Database without connection timeout	🔴 Critical
Queue consumer blocking forever	🔴 Critical
Lock without timeout (deadlock risk)	🔴 Critical
Cache without read timeout	🟠 Major
Missing processing timeout	🟠 Major
file_get_contents without timeout	🟡 Minor

Timeout Strategy Matrix

Resource	Connect Timeout	Read Timeout	Processing Timeout
HTTP API	5s	30s	60s
Database	5s	30s	N/A
Redis Cache	2s	5s	N/A
Message Queue	5s	30s	120s
File Lock	N/A	N/A	10s
DNS Resolution	5s	N/A	N/A

Output Format

### Timeout Strategy: [Description]

**Severity:** 🔴/🟠/🟡
**Location:** `file.php:line`
**Resource Type:** HTTP/Database/Queue/Cache/Lock

**Issue:**
[Description of missing or misconfigured timeout]

**Risk:**
- Thread/process starvation
- Connection pool exhaustion
- Cascading failures to dependent services

**Code:**
```php
// Missing timeout

Fix:

// With proper timeout configuration