When you use any functions in PHP to spawn another process (with the exception of pcntl_fork), PHP will execute a shell to run your process. That shell is then

When you use any functions in PHP to spawn another process (with the exception of pcntl_fork), PHP will execute a shell to run your process. That shell is then inheriting the parent environment. If you (or any libraries you use) do not shell out or if you're using php_fpm (which clears the env and passes headers out of the environment), the. You are safe.