CodeIgniter.php went into a hard loop

Something happened on 12/1. My entire AWS site went down. Upon investigation it seems that Codeigniter.php is stuck while loading the bootstrap file in a loop so the UI never gets to initialize.  Did a CI  or php function expire on 12/1? I am using php 7.4.27 and CI 3.

I didn't do any upgrades on that date. Does that mean that it was an AWS change that CI/3 is not handling well?

---

In tracing the code in Codeigniter.php I see that this code is running:
if (extension_loaded('mbstring'))
{
define('MB_ENABLED', TRUE);
// mbstring.internal_encoding is deprecated starting with PHP 5.6
// and it's usage triggers E_DEPRECATED messages.
@ini_set('mbstring.internal_encoding', $charset);
// This is required for mb_convert_encoding() to strip invalid characters.
// That's utilized by CI_Utf8, but it's also done for consistency with iconv.
mb_substitute_character('none');
}

Could this be my issue? I guess mbstring (whatever that is) is enabled?

I also see that iconv is enabled.
if (extension_loaded('iconv')).

Am I barking up the wrong tree? 

Also: I see iconv is enabled. Could this be the issue as of 12/1/22?
{
define('ICONV_ENABLED', TRUE);
// iconv.internal_encoding is deprecated starting with PHP 5.6
// and it's usage triggers E_DEPRECATED messages.
@ini_set('iconv.internal_encoding', $charset);
}
else


Is this really a question I should post on the github site?

proof that an old dog can learn new tricks

Just as quickly as it showed up, it is gone. I was using a maintenance utility for wordpress and i assume something went wrong with it on 12/1/22? Anyway. please disregard my above query.

proof that an old dog can learn new tricks

Then please mark your Topic Title as [SOLVED]

Thank you
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