Cron PHP Version Mismatch

[Fabio Perez]

I recently upgrade the OS on the WHMCS server from Debian 11 to 12.

 

This change also upgraded the PHP version from 8.1 to 8.4.

Now on my WHMCS dashboard I see this warning

Cron PHP Version Mismatch
Your environment appears to be running a different PHP version (8.1.30) for the System Cron than the currently loaded PHP version (8.4.14). This may cause issues running your System Cron

Just to be sure, I removed all old PHP versions from the server, so there is no php8.1 anywhere on the server.
Then, reading some docs, I saw that WHMCS only support php8.3. So I installed that version.

If I ran `php -v` on my server I get
```
php -v
PHP 8.3.27 (cli) (built: Nov 13 2025 21:19:55) (NTS)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.3.27, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with the ionCube PHP Loader v15.0.0, Copyright (c) 2002-2025, by ionCube Ltd.
```
I also using `fpm` on my nginx config file like this `fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;`

Still I have this warning that Im not sure how to get rid of. And now the Daily Cron Completing fails.

Any help would be much appreciated it.

Thanks.

[wtools]

Do you still face this issue?

 

Can you create a test.php file with  phpinfo(); calling from it?

Then take that page from a browser? And see what version of PHP is loaded from that page? Let me know if they are different or the same? 

[WHMCS Ricardo]

Hey Fabio! Have you managed to get this sorted?

This warning usually means that the PHP version used by the web interface and the PHP version used by the system cron are not the same.
This can happen when multiple PHP versions are present, or when the cron job is still pointing to an older PHP binary.

To troubleshoot this:
Go to Utilities > System > PHP Info and check the Loaded Configuration File to confirm which PHP version the web server is using.
Then check which PHP binary is being used by the cron (CLI). Compare the PHP version and the php.ini file used by both to make sure they match.
If they don’t, the cron command needs to be updated to explicitly call the same PHP version as the web server, or your system administrator can adjust the defaults accordingly.

Also note that the warning won’t clear immediately. WHMCS only re-evaluates this check after the next successful daily cron run.

You can find more details in our documentation here:
https://docs.whmcs.com/8-13/system/automation/cron-tutorials/resolve-a-cron-php-mismatch/

In short, WHMCS is running under one PHP version, while the cron job is likely using another.
Once both are aligned, the warning and the cron issues should be resolved by the next daily run.

If needed, our team can take a closer look, just open a ticket and we’ll be happy to help.