Error 500 in panel after interrupted upgrade from Ubuntu 22.04 to 24.04, ionCube error

[webGeorg]

Hello.

After running the standard OS upgrade script (upgrade_operating_system.sh) from Ubuntu 22.04 to 24.04, the KeyHelp control panel has become inaccessible and returns a 500 error.

Sequence of events:

The upgrade script completed the initial stages (updated ionCube, SourceGuardian, KeyHelp files) and handed over control to do-release-upgrade.

After displaying the Ubuntu 24.04 welcome message and the prompt "Продолжить [дН] y", the process unexpectedly terminated, returning me to the command line. The OS upgrade did not start.

The control panel immediately became inaccessible via all addresses (by domain and IP), returning a 500 error. The Apache web server is running.

Attempting to run the upgrade script again now results in a new error:
PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected identifier "ionCube" in /tmp/keyhelp_ubuntu_upgrade_22_to_24.php on line 5

Assumption: It is possible that the script prepared the system for PHP 8.3 (relevant for Ubuntu 24.04), but the OS itself remained on 22.04 with PHP 8.1, leading to a conflict and corruption of the panel's state.

What has already been done for diagnosis:

Checked Apache logs. There are no critical errors apart from SSL warnings. Apache is running.

Disabled all third-party PPAs; the problem persists.

Manipulations were performed with the ionCube configuration (temporarily disabling the module and adding paths), after which the configuration was completely restored to its original state. This did not resolve the issue.

The command curl -I http://localhost returns 302 Found, indicating the web server is functional, but there is an internal error in the KeyHelp application itself.

I request assistance with:

Restoring access to the control panel on the current Ubuntu 22.04.

Safely completing the upgrade process to Ubuntu 24.04 or rolling back its preparatory stages.

System Information:

lsb_release -a

Code: Select all

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS
Release:        22.04
Codename:       jammy

php -v

Code: Select all

PHP 8.1.2-1ubuntu2.22 (cli) (built: Jul 15 2025 12:11:22) (NTS)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.1.2, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with SourceGuardian v16.0.2, Copyright (c) 2000-2025, by SourceGuardian Ltd.
    with Zend OPcache v8.1.2-1ubuntu2.22, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

systemctl status php8.1-fpm

Code: Select all

root@cpanel:/tmp# systemctl status php8.1-fpm
● php8.1-fpm.service - The PHP 8.1 FastCGI Process Manager
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/php8.1-fpm.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Tue 2025-12-23 06:18:24 +03; 32min ago
       Docs: man:php-fpm8.1(8)
    Process: 1341 ExecStartPost=/usr/lib/php/php-fpm-socket-helper install /run/php/php-fpm.sock /etc/php/8.1/fpm/pool.d/www.conf 81 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 1003 (php-fpm8.1)
     Status: "Processes active: 0, idle: 0, Requests: 365, slow: 0, Traffic: 0req/sec"
      Tasks: 4 (limit: 9228)
     Memory: 283.6M
        CPU: 1min 7.741s
     CGroup: /system.slice/php8.1-fpm.service
             ├─1003 "php-fpm: master process (/etc/php/8.1/fpm/php-fpm.conf)" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" ""
             ├─4884 "php-fpm: pool b3b" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" ""
             ├─4885 "php-fpm: pool tech" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" ""
             └─4886 "php-fpm: pool keyhelp" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" ""

сне 23 06:18:23 cpanel.mydomain.tld systemd[1]: Starting The PHP 8.1 FastCGI Process Manager...
сне 23 06:18:24 cpanel.mydomain.tld systemd[1]: Started The PHP 8.1 FastCGI Process Manager.

php -m | grep -i ioncube

Code: Select all

empty value

tail -n 1 /home/keyhelp/www/keyhelp/index.php ; echo "\n"

Code: Select all

jc2kpHfiS/Z7eDjxOVJW1V6UCUlHni3abybuUMqhQmtcgUTRPpG=\n

Thank you in advance for your help.

[ShortSnow]

Could you please confirm whether you used the KeyHelp upgrade script from the following link?
https://www.keyweb.de/de/support/mehr-e ... s-upgrades

If not, please roll back the changes and perform a new upgrade using this script.

[webGeorg]

Could you please confirm whether you used the KeyHelp upgrade script from the following link?
https://www.keyweb.de/de/support/mehr-e ... s-upgrades

If not, please roll back the changes and perform a new upgrade using this script.

updated according to these instructions

Code: Select all

https://www.keyweb.de/de/keyhelp/entwicklung/keyhelp-neuigkeiten/upgrade-ubuntu-22-to-ubuntu-24

[Florian]

Hallo,

your Dist Upgrade is not ready. You can see it in the PHP Version. Ubuntu comes with PHP 8.3, not 8.1. So you cannot go on before it is not finished.

You must make sure that all packages have been upgraded.

Run:

Code: Select all

dpkg --configure -a
apt get install -f
apt-get dist-upgrade

[webGeorg]

Hallo,

your Dist Upgrade is not ready. You can see it in the PHP Version. Ubuntu comes with PHP 8.3, not 8.1. So you cannot go on before it is not finished.

You must make sure that all packages have been upgraded.

Run:

Code: Select all

dpkg --configure -a
apt get install -f
apt-get dist-upgrade

Thank you, everything works.

Solution (sequence of actions):
1)

Code: Select all

screen -S upgrade
sudo apt install update-manager-core
sudo do-release-upgrade

2)

Code: Select all

wget --no-check-certificate https://install.keyhelp.de/scripts/upgrade_operating_system.sh -O upgrade_operating_system.sh && bash upgrade_operating_system.sh

Reboot
3)

Code: Select all

do-release-upgrade

A key point during installation: When asked about replacing configuration files (for Apache, PHP, Postfix, etc.), always select "keep the currently installed version" (press N or O). This ensures that your existing settings won't be overwritten.

The final result: The KeyHelp panel is now fully accessible and functional again on the new OS version.