Install ionCube Loader on Debian 12 (Bookworm)

This article will guide you through the installation of the Apache web server, PHP 8.2, and ionCube Loader on Debian 12 (Bookworm). The ionCube Loader is a PHP extension that enables PHP to run files that have been encoded using the ionCube PHP Encoder. Essentially, it's a tool that decodes encrypted PHP files so that the PHP engine can execute them.

In this tutorial, we are installing ionCube Loader 14.4.0 with Apache2 and PHP 8.2.

All the below commands must be executed as root.

1. Install Apache and PHP on Debian 12 (Bookworm)

Update package information:

root@vps-2209:~# apt update

Install the packages:

root@vps-2209:~# apt install apache2

root@vps-2209:~# apt install libapache2-mod-php php php-fpm

Verify PHP version (Debian 12 comes with PHP 8.2):

root@vps-2209:~# php -v
PHP 8.2.28 (cli) (built: Mar 13 2025 18:21:38) (NTS)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.2.28, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v8.2.28, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

Verify, that the Apache web server is running:

root@vps-2209:~# systemctl status apache2
● apache2.service - The Apache HTTP Server
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apache2.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Fri 2025-03-21 20:21:20 UTC; 3min 18s ago
Docs: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/
Process: 8084 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/apachectl start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 8089 (apache2)
Tasks: 6 (limit: 4698)
Memory: 11.6M
CPU: 156ms
CGroup: /system.slice/apache2.service
├─8089 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
├─8090 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
├─8091 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
├─8092 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
├─8093 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
└─8094 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k startsystemctl status apache2

2. Download and setup ionCube Loader on Debian 12 (Bookworm)

The IonCube Loader 14.4.0 can be downloaded from the project's homepage: https://www.ioncube.com/loaders.php

Direct link to the Linux (64 bits) zip package: https://downloads.ioncube.com/loader_downloads/ioncube_loaders_lin_x86-64.zip

Direct link to the Linux (64 bits) tar.gz package: https://downloads.ioncube.com/loader_downloads/ioncube_loaders_lin_x86-64.tar.gz

Download the IonCube Loader 14.4.0 zip package:

root@vps-2209:~# wget -P /root/ https://downloads.ioncube.com/loader_downloads/ioncube_loaders_lin_x86-64.zip

Extract the contents of the zip package:

root@vps-2209:~# unzip /root/ioncube_loaders_lin_x86-64.zip

From the unzipped folder choose the appropriate .so (shared object) file for the installed PHP version, in our case, it is 8.2:

root@vps-2209:~# ls -lh /root/ioncube/ | grep ioncube_loader_lin_8.2
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 1.5M Jan 30 17:32 ioncube_loader_lin_8.2.so
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 1.6M Jan 30 17:33 ioncube_loader_lin_8.2_ts.so

Locate the PHP extension directory in your system (this is the location where we are going to place the IonCube Loader):

root@vps-2209:~# php -i | grep extension_dir
extension_dir => /usr/lib/php/20220829 => /usr/lib/php/20220829

Now copy the IonCube Loader file to the PHP extension directory:

root@vps-2209:~# cp /root/ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_8.2.so /usr/lib/php/20220829/

Instead of placing the reference to IonCube Loader in the php.ini file, we will place it in the file inside the mods-available directory for better usage flexibility.

In the mods-available directory for PHP 8.2 create the ioncube.ini file:

root@vps-2209:~# cd /etc/php/8.2/mods-available/
root@vps-2209:/etc/php/8.2/mods-available# vim ioncube.ini

the ioncube.ini file contents:

; configuration for php ioncube module
; priority=10
zend_extension=ioncube_loader_lin_8.2.so

Save and close the file.

2.1 Enable IonCube Loader for PHP CLI

Create the symbolic link to the ioncube.ini file, to be able to use IonCube Loader in the PHP command line interface:

root@vps-2209:~# ln -s /etc/php/8.2/mods-available/ioncube.ini /etc/php/8.2/cli/conf.d/10-ioncube.ini

Verify, that IonCube Loader is enabled for PHP 8.2:

root@vps-2209:~# php -v
PHP 8.2.28 (cli) (built: Mar 13 2025 18:21:38) (NTS)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.2.28, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
with the ionCube PHP Loader v14.4.0, Copyright (c) 2002-2025, by ionCube Ltd.
with Zend OPcache v8.2.28, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

2.2 Enable IonCube Loader for Apache Web Server

Now create the symbolic link to the ioncube.ini file, to be able to use IonCube Loader with Apache web server:

root@vps-2209:~# ln -s /etc/php/8.2/mods-available/ioncube.ini /etc/php/8.2/apache2/conf.d/10-ioncube.ini

Note: The extensions in the apache2/conf.d directory are loaded in alphabetical order and the files in this directory have prefixes from "10-" to "20-", so we suggest that the 10-ioncube.ini link should have the "10-" prefix to be loaded first.

Now create

root@vps-2209:~# cd /var/www/html/
root@vps-2209:/var/www/html# vim info.php

the info.php file contents (watch out for any white spaces when copy-pasting the code below):

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Finally, restart the Apache service

root@vps-2209:~# systemctl restart apache2

In the web browser type in the URL address of your Apache server to check phpinfo output:

http://<vps-2209-ip-address>/info.php

On the info.php page scroll down to the Zend Engine section and IonCube Loader section to see if the IonCube Loader was enabled successfully.

2.3 Enable IonCube Loader for Apache Web Server with PHP-FPM module enabled

Create the symbolic link to the ioncube.ini file, to be able to use IonCube Loader with Apache web server and PHP-FPM module enabled:

root@vps-2209:~# ln -s /etc/php/8.2/mods-available/ioncube.ini /etc/php/8.2/fpm/conf.d/10-ioncube.ini

Enable and start PHP-FPM service for PHP 8.2:

root@vps-2209:~# systemctl enable --now php8.2-fpm

To use PHP-FPM module, we need to tell the Apache server to use the FastCGI handler instead of the standard Apache 2.0 (core) handler, so we have to modify our default.conf config and add FilesMatch tag to force Apache to handle all the .php files using FPM/FastCGI:

root@vps-2209:~# vim /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

the 000-default.conf config file content after modifications:

<VirtualHost *:80>

 ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
 DocumentRoot /var/www/html

 <FilesMatch \.php$>
    SetHandler "proxy:unix:/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost/"
 </FilesMatch>

 ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
 CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

Now, enable Apache FastCGI and PHP-FPM and modules:

root@vps-2209:~# a2enmod proxy_fcgi

root@vps-2209:~# a2enconf php8.2-fpm

Finally, restart the Apache service

root@vps-2209:~# systemctl restart apache2

In the web browser type in the URL address of your Apache server to check phpinfo output:

http://<vps-2209-ip-address>/info.php

On the info.php page scroll down to the Zend Engine section and IonCube Loader section to see if the IonCube Loader was enabled successfully. Pay attention to the Server API variable, which is now set to FPM/FastCGI (unlike the previous case, where it was set to Apache 2.0 Handler).