Security Update – PHP Vulnerability

We are aware of the recent critical PHP security vulnerabilities highlighted by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) on 21st October 2026.

We would like to reassure customers that our main platforms, 4Matrix Cloud and 4Matrix Fusion, do not use PHP and are therefore not directly affected by these vulnerabilities.

PHP is used within some of our supporting systems, including our customer support ticketing and billing systems. Our desktop application also communicates with our sales system for licence verification. These systems do not store customers' payment details or sensitive information as part of the licence verification process.

We have been in contact with our hosting provider, Krystal, who has confirmed that the necessary security fixes have been applied to address the reported vulnerabilities.

No action is required from our customers in relation to this advisory.

We take the security of our systems and customer information seriously and will continue to monitor security developments and work with our hosting provider to maintain appropriate protections.

KS5 headline figures in 4Matrix do not match the results in the performance tables

In 2016, the method used for calculating KS5 performance figures changed completely.  4Matrix uses the published guidelines to calculate headline figures based on the data that you have entered into your series.

Firstly, please check in Admin, Edit Series that your calculation engine has been set to the correct performance year via the 'Calculation' tab.

To check the reason for any discrepancies, you will need the pupil-level data file (.csv format) which can be downloaded from the DFE 'Check Your Performance Data'.

Discrepancies may be down to one of the following:

Included Pupils

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Please check that the performance measures file includes the same students as your 4Matrix series.

The performance tables may correctly include students who have been off-roll at your school for some time.  These students will not automatically be included in your 4Matrix series and may need to be added manually.

Students who finished KS5 at your school this year may be excluded from performance measures because of age or inclusion in a previous year's results.  These students will need to be removed from the 4Matrix series by being marked as "Off Roll" in Edit Pupils.

KS4 APS

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The KS5 measures use two KS4 APS figures to calculate progress: a GCSE-only APS (used for Academic and A Level measures) and an overall APS (used for Applied and Technical measures).

Please check that both of these APS figures match the values in Admin, Edit Markbook for all students.  

Results

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Please check that all results have been included in your 4Matrix series.

The Pupil Breakdown view of the Press Release shows how many counting entries each student has in each of the four main areas (A Level, Academic, Applied, Technical).  This can be exported into Excel if required to allow for comparison against the performance tables data.

The Grade Analysis report can be used to identify which results have been discounted by 4Matrix.  If you have results which are discounted in 4Matrix but not in the performance tables data (or vice versa), please use Edit Subjects to check that the QAN code used for the subject is correct.  If the correct QAN code has been used but there is a mismatch in discounting, please contact 4Matrix support with details of the qualification.

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If the pupils, APS and Results (including QANs) for all students match the performance tables data then we would expect the headline figures to match.  If you have checked all of the above but still have discrepancies then please contact 4Matrix support for advice.