Title: PHP function putenv and WP Engine
Last modified: September 1, 2016
---
# PHP function putenv and WP Engine
* Resolved [Cameron Barrett](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cameronbarrett/)
* (@cameronbarrett)
* [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-function-putenv-and-wp-engine/)
* WP Engine is emailing all users of WP Ultimate Recipe with the following info.
* > We are contacting you today to inform you of a change we are making on the
> WP Engine platform, to further improve the security of the site(s) you host
> with us.
> [http://php.net/manual/en/function.putenv.php](http://php.net/manual/en/function.putenv.php)
>
> [https://www.owasp.org/index.php/PHP_Configuration_Cheat_Sheet?_hsenc#PHP_executable_handling](https://www.owasp.org/index.php/PHP_Configuration_Cheat_Sheet?_hsenc#PHP_executable_handling)
> On July 20, 2016, we will be hardening the PHP function putenv based on industry
> best practices for all PHP applications.
* Are you planning on updating this plugin to address this issue?
* [https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-ultimate-recipe/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-ultimate-recipe/)
Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
* Plugin Author [Brecht](https://wordpress.org/support/users/brechtvds/)
* (@brechtvds)
* [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-function-putenv-and-wp-engine/#post-7573667)
* As far as I’m aware the putenv() function is not used in our plugin. Definitely
not in any of our own code and a search through all our code (including external
libraries we use) doesn’t bring any occurrences of the putenv() function up either.
* Does the email from WP Engine mention our plugin specifically? We’re hosted at
WP Engine ourselves and have not received anything (yet).
* Kind regards,
Brecht
* Thread Starter [Cameron Barrett](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cameronbarrett/)
* (@cameronbarrett)
* [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-function-putenv-and-wp-engine/#post-7573673)
* I grabbed the copy of the plugin from my server and found a reference to ‘putenv’
commented out on Line #12 of:
* /wp-ultimate-recipe/vendor/minify/min/lib/Minify/ClosureCompiler.php
/wp-ultimate-
recipe/vendor/minify/min/lib/Minify/YUICompressor.php
* ```
/**
* Compress Javascript using the Closure Compiler
*
* You must set $jarFile and $tempDir before calling the minify functions.
* Also, depending on your shell's environment, you may need to specify
* the full path to java in $javaExecutable or use putenv() to setup the
* Java environment.
*
*
* Minify_ClosureCompiler::$jarFile = '/path/to/closure-compiler-20120123.jar';
* Minify_ClosureCompiler::$tempDir = '/tmp';
* $code = Minify_ClosureCompiler::minify(
* $code,
* array('compilation_level' => 'SIMPLE_OPTIMIZATIONS')
* );
*
* --compilation_level WHITESPACE_ONLY, SIMPLE_OPTIMIZATIONS, ADVANCED_OPTIMIZATIONS
*
*
*
* @todo unit tests, $options docs
* @todo more options support (or should just passthru them all?)
*
* @package Minify
* @author Stephen Clay
* @author Elan Ruusamäe
*/
```
* It’s also referenced in a very long array in:
* /wp-ultimate-recipe/vendor/vafpress/public/js/vendor/ace/mode-php.js
* Plugin Author [Brecht](https://wordpress.org/support/users/brechtvds/)
* (@brechtvds)
* [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-function-putenv-and-wp-engine/#post-7573677)
* Yes, I found those references as well, but that’s just text in comments, not
actual usage of the function.
* Did WP Engine mention anything about finding it in our plugin?
* Brecht
* Thread Starter [Cameron Barrett](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cameronbarrett/)
* (@cameronbarrett)
* [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-function-putenv-and-wp-engine/#post-7573683)
* Here’s a screenshot of the email, which looks automated. I’ve blacked out the
name of the site.
* [https://www.dropbox.com/s/egf40d2xacyt186/Screenshot%202016-07-14%2020.20.07.png?dl=0](https://www.dropbox.com/s/egf40d2xacyt186/Screenshot%202016-07-14%2020.20.07.png?dl=0)
* Plugin Author [Brecht](https://wordpress.org/support/users/brechtvds/)
* (@brechtvds)
* [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-function-putenv-and-wp-engine/#post-7573686)
* Thanks. They probably got triggered on the mention of the function in the comment.
* Just to confirm: this will not impact our plugin at all since that function is
not actually used.
* Brecht
* Thread Starter [Cameron Barrett](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cameronbarrett/)
* (@cameronbarrett)
* [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-function-putenv-and-wp-engine/#post-7573771)
* Yeah, thanks for the follow-up. I’m going to open a chat support ticket and let
them know that this is a false positive.
Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
The topic ‘PHP function putenv and WP Engine’ is closed to new replies.
* 
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* 6 replies
* 2 participants
* Last reply from: [Cameron Barrett](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cameronbarrett/)
* Last activity: [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-function-putenv-and-wp-engine/#post-7573771)
* Status: resolved