[Bug]: PHP warnings ldap_read no such object / configuration error in setup assistent

⚠️ This issue respects the following points: ⚠️

• This is a bug, not a question or a configuration/webserver/proxy issue.
• This issue is not already reported on Github OR Nextcloud Community Forum (I've searched it).
• Nextcloud Server is up to date. See Maintenance and Release Schedule for supported versions.
• I agree to follow Nextcloud's Code of Conduct.

Bug description

Since the update from 32.x to 33.x every run of the cronjob creates the following errors in the log (a lot of them):

{"reqId":"bWzjpV0HHgVcTyXqvw0x","level":2,"time":"2026-05-26T07:55:01+00:00","remoteAddr":"","user":"--","app":"PHP","method":"","url":"--","scriptName":"/data/nextcloud/cron.php","message":"ldap_read(): Search: No such object at /data/nextcloud_a4/apps/user_ldap/lib/LDAP.php#285","userAgent":"--","version":"33.0.3.2","occ_command":["/data/nextcloud/cron.php"],"data":{"app":"PHP"},"id":"6a1553d4a3f05"}

Its the complete log entry, no Stacktrace, no parameters... I don't how how to trace this back. But there is an information message before all the warnings which may help:

{"reqId":"YutXOT9sQunoHFHKml1U","level":1,"time":"2026-05-26T06:50:02+00:00","remoteAddr":"","user":"--","app":"user_ldap","method":"","url":"--","scriptName":"/data/nextcloud/cron.php","message":"service \"updateGroups\" - groups do not seem to be configured properly, aborting.","userAgent":"--","version":"33.0.3.2","occ_command":["/data/nextcloud/cron.php"],"data":{"app":"user_ldap"},"id":"6a155dc729ece"}

The LDAP settings are the same since v32.x. But the setup assistent in 33 shows "Invalid query, please check the syntax. API specifications are here: http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/open-collaboration-services." on every test. Login, searching users, etc. works without problems.

The LDAP server has 2 "special" configurations (which I can't change):

• There is a sizelimit of 50 entries, so searches with more then 50 result will return LDAP_SIZELIMIT_EXCEEDED as return code along with the 50 results
• There are no groups at all in the directory

To get rid of the "LDAP configuration error" on the Admin Overview panel and address the first configuration issue, I changed the line
if (!$this->ldap->isResource($sr) || $error !== 0) {
to
if (!$this->ldap->isResource($sr) || (($error !== 0) && ($error !== 4)) ) {
in the executeSearch funktion of the lib/Access.php file.

Supressing the warning by adding an @ to the call_user_func_array at the line 285 maybe a solution to remove warning, but as far as I see will this remove ALL ldap warnings, which does not look good.

I will try to look into the LDAP Group management to check what happens if there are no groups at all...

Steps to reproduce

Difficult. I updated to 33.0.3 and got the issues. But it depends on the ldap server configuration, where I don't have access to. Maybe you can reproduce if the LDAP server does not provide any groups or group membership information.

Expected behavior

No error messages in log / ldap configuration assistent (maybe group configuration can deactivated, if this is the issue?)

Nextcloud Server version

33

Operating system

Debian/Ubuntu

PHP engine version

PHP 8.4

Web server

None

Database engine version

MariaDB

Is this bug present after an update or on a fresh install?

Upgraded to a MAJOR version (ex. 31 to 32)

Are you using the Nextcloud Server Encryption module?

None

What user-backends are you using?

• Default user-backend (database)
• LDAP/ Active Directory
• SSO - SAML
• Other

Configuration report

{
    "system": {
        "instanceid": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "passwordsalt": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "secret": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "trusted_domains": [
            "***",
            "***"
        ],
        "datadirectory": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbtype": "mysql",
        "version": "33.0.3.2",
        "dbname": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbhost": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbport": "",
        "dbtableprefix": "oc_",
        "mysql.utf8mb4": true,
        "dbuser": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbpassword": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbdriveroptions": {
            "1002": "SET wait_timeout = 28800"
        },
        "installed": true,
        "default_language": "de",
        "updatechecker": true,
        "has_internet_connection": true,
        "memcached_servers": [
            [
                "localhost",
                11211
            ]
        ],
        "appstoreenabled": true,
        "ldapIgnoreNamingRules": false,
        "ldapProviderFactory": "\\OCA\\User_LDAP\\LDAPProviderFactory",
        "loglevel": 0,
        "trusted_proxies": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "forwarded_for_headers": [
            "HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR"
        ],
        "mail_from_address": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_smtpmode": "sendmail",
        "mail_smtpauthtype": "LOGIN",
        "mail_domain": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "skeletondirectory": "\/data\/nextcloud_skel",
        "activity_expire_days": 14,
        "integrity.check.disabled": true,
        "memcache.local": "\\OC\\Memcache\\APCu",
        "knowledgebaseenabled": false,
        "sharing.minSearchStringLength": 4,
        "sharing.maxAutocompleteResults": 5,
        "maintenance": false,
        "overwritehost": "***",
        "overwriteprotocol": "https",
        "overwrite.cli.url": "***",
        "htaccess.RewriteBase": "\/",
        "proxy": "***",
        "updater.release.channel": "stable",
        "lookup_server": "",
        "localstorage.allowsymlinks": true,
        "default_phone_region": "de",
        "hashingMemoryCost": 8,
        "profile.enabled": false,
        "debug": true,
        "bulkupload.enabled": false,
        "maintenance_window_start": 18,
        "serverid": 1
    }
}

List of activated Apps

Enabled:
  - activity: 6.0.0
  - announcementcenter: 7.4.0
  - app_api: 33.0.0
  - bookmarks: 16.1.4
  - bruteforcesettings: 6.0.0
  - calendar: 6.4.2
  - circles: 33.0.0
  - cloud_federation_api: 1.17.0
  - collectives: 4.4.0
  - comments: 1.23.0
  - contacts: 8.5.0
  - dashboard: 7.13.0
  - dav: 1.36.0
  - deck: 1.17.1
  - drawio: 4.2.3
  - drop_account: 3.0.0
  - federatedfilesharing: 1.23.0
  - federation: 1.23.0
  - files: 2.5.0
  - files_downloadactivity: 1.18.1
  - files_downloadlimit: 5.1.0
  - files_external: 1.25.1
  - files_mindmap: 0.0.34
  - files_pdfviewer: 6.0.0
  - files_reminders: 1.6.0
  - files_retention: 4.0.1
  - files_sharing: 1.25.2
  - files_trashbin: 1.23.0
  - files_versions: 1.26.0
  - forms: 5.2.7
  - groupfolders: 21.0.7
  - guests: 4.7.4
  - impersonate: 4.0.0
  - logreader: 6.0.0
  - lookup_server_connector: 1.21.0
  - metadata: 0.23.0
  - notes: 5.0.0
  - notifications: 6.0.0
  - notify_push: 1.3.3
  - oauth2: 1.21.0
  - photos: 6.0.0
  - polls: 9.1.4
  - profile: 1.2.0
  - provisioning_api: 1.23.0
  - quota_warning: 1.23.0
  - quotaadmin: 0.0.6
  - recommendations: 6.0.0
  - related_resources: 4.0.0
  - richdocuments: 10.1.3
  - serverinfo: 5.0.0
  - settings: 1.16.0
  - sharebymail: 1.23.0
  - spreed: 23.0.4
  - systemtags: 1.23.0
  - tables: 2.1.1
  - tasks: 0.17.1
  - text: 7.0.1
  - theming: 2.8.0
  - theming_customcss: 1.20.0
  - twofactor_backupcodes: 1.22.0
  - twofactor_webauthn: 2.6.0
  - updatenotification: 1.23.0
  - user_ldap: 1.24.0
  - viewer: 6.0.0
  - webhook_listeners: 1.5.0
  - whiteboard: 1.5.8
  - workflowengine: 2.15.0

Nextcloud Signing status

deactivated

Nextcloud Logs

{"reqId":"YutXOT9sQunoHFHKml1U","level":2,"time":"2026-05-26T06:50:02+00:00","remoteAddr":"","user":"--","app":"PHP","method":"","url":"--","scriptName":"/data/nextcloud/cron.php","message":"ldap_read(): Search: No such object at /data/nextcloud_a4/apps/user_ldap/lib/LDAP.php#285","userAgent":"--","version":"33.0.3.2","occ_command":["/data/nextcloud/cron.php"],"data":{"app":"PHP"},"id":"6a155dc729e99"}

{"reqId":"YutXOT9sQunoHFHKml1U","level":1,"time":"2026-05-26T06:50:02+00:00","remoteAddr":"","user":"--","app":"user_ldap","method":"","url":"--","scriptName":"/data/nextcloud/cron.php","message":"service \"updateGroups\" - groups do not seem to be configured properly, aborting.","userAgent":"--","version":"33.0.3.2","occ_command":["/data/nextcloud/cron.php"],"data":{"app":"user_ldap"},"id":"6a155dc729ece"}

Additional info

occ LDAP test-config succeeds. Also test-user works.
occ LDAP show-config:
+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Configuration | | +-------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | hasMemberOfFilterSupport | 0 | | homeFolderNamingRule | attr:uid | | lastJpegPhotoLookup | 0 | | ldapAdminGroup | | | ldapAgentName | cn=proxy-nextcloud,ou=service,o=xxx | | ldapAgentPassword | *** | | ldapAttributeAddress | | | ldapAttributeAnniversaryDate | | | ldapAttributeBiography | | | ldapAttributeBirthDate | | | ldapAttributeFediverse | | | ldapAttributeHeadline | | | ldapAttributeOrganisation | | | ldapAttributePhone | | | ldapAttributePronouns | | | ldapAttributeRole | | | ldapAttributeTwitter | | | ldapAttributeWebsite | | | ldapAttributesForGroupSearch | | | ldapAttributesForUserSearch | sn;uid;mail | | ldapBackgroundHost | | | ldapBackgroundPort | | | ldapBackupHost | | | ldapBackupPort | | | ldapBase | ou=user,o=xxx | | ldapBaseGroups | ou=user,o=xxx | | ldapBaseUsers | ou=user,o=xxx | ldapCacheTTL | 3600 | [0/259] | ldapConfigurationActive | 1 | | ldapConnectionTimeout | 15 | | ldapDefaultPPolicyDN | | | ldapDynamicGroupMemberURL | | | ldapEmailAttribute | mail | | ldapExperiencedAdmin | 1 | | ldapExpertUUIDGroupAttr | | | ldapExpertUUIDUserAttr | uid | | ldapExpertUsernameAttr | uid | | ldapExtStorageHomeAttribute | | | ldapGidNumber | gidnumber | | ldapGroupDisplayName | cn | | ldapGroupFilter | (objectclass=posixGroup) | | ldapGroupFilterGroups | | | ldapGroupFilterMode | 0 | | ldapGroupFilterObjectclass | | | ldapGroupMemberAssocAttr | uniquemember | | ldapHost | ldap://localhost | | ldapIgnoreNamingRules | | | ldapLoginFilter | (&(|(objectclass=inetOrgPerson))(|(uid=%uid)(|(mail=%uid)))(|(xxx=*)(xxx=TO DELETE))) | | ldapLoginFilterAttributes | mail | | ldapLoginFilterEmail | 0 | | ldapLoginFilterMode | 0 | | ldapLoginFilterUsername | 1 | | ldapMatchingRuleInChainState | unknown | | ldapNestedGroups | 0 | | ldapOverrideMainServer | | | ldapPagingSize | 0 | | ldapPort | 389 | | ldapQuotaAttribute | | | ldapQuotaDefault | | | ldapTLS | 0 | | ldapUserAvatarRule | none | | ldapUserDisplayName | sn | | ldapUserDisplayName2 | givenname | | ldapUserFilter | (&(objectclass=inetOrgPerson)(|(xxx=*)(xxx=TO DELETE))) | | ldapUserFilterGroups | | | ldapUserFilterMode | 0 | | ldapUserFilterObjectclass | inetOrgPerson | | ldapUuidGroupAttribute | auto | | ldapUuidUserAttribute | auto | | markRemnantsAsDisabled | 0 | | turnOffCertCheck | 0 | | turnOnPasswordChange | 0 | | useMemberOfToDetectMembership | 1 | +-------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Start with apps/user_ldap/lib/LDAP.php at line 285 and trace the cron updateGroups path that produces the ldap_read warning. Compare it with executeSearch in lib/Access.php, especially the handling of LDAP_SIZELIMIT_EXCEEDED and directories without groups. Done means the reported LDAP setup and cron scenarios no longer produce erroneous configuration messages or warnings while successful user searches continue to work.