Swallowed Exception (ARCH7151)

Key php.logging.swallowed-exception · Severity warning · Category logging

Catching an exception and silently returning null/false hides the failure. Unlike an empty block, the body exists but the exception is still discarded.

Incorrect

<?php
public function loadConfig(string $path): ?array
{
    try {
        return json_decode(file_get_contents($path), true);
    } catch (\Throwable $e) {
        return null;
    }
}

Correct

<?php
public function loadConfig(string $path): ?array
{
    try {
        return json_decode(file_get_contents($path), true);
    } catch (\Throwable $e) {
        $this->logger->error('Config load failed', ['path' => $path, 'exception' => $e]);
        throw $e;
    }
}

Fix

Log or rethrow the exception instead of silently converting it to a return value.