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You could. Or maybe there's a way to leak the pointers too, which would work around the need for a database.

So, source-based distros get to shine?

Not necessarily. Most apps should build in reproducible way these days. That means you can compile the same versions and likely get the same offsets. (+/- custom options applied to your local system)

Well, PHP has an insane number of compilation flags, so the chances of your build being the same as $GENERIC_PLATFORM's is not as high as you think.

So, if the offsets were in fact different, would the explots still work? (I think the answer is actually yes based on what I read/saw; I think the PoC dynamically calculates these offsets? Not 100% sure, but we shouldn't take chances.)

Correct.