MySQL extension automatic porting to PDO for PHP migration and security improvement

Abstract

In software management, the upgrade of programming languages may introduce critical issues. This is the case of PHP, the fifth version of which is going towards the end of the support. The new release improves on different aspects, but removes the old deprecated MySQL extensions, and supports only the newer library of functions for the connection to the databases. The software systems already in place need to be renewed to be compliant with respect to the new language version. The conversion of the source code, to be safe against injection attacks, should involve also the transformation of the query code. The purpose of this work is the design of specific tool that automatically applies the required transformation yielding to a precise and efficient conversion procedure. The tool has been applied to different projects to provide evidence of its effectiveness.