Rule Definition
Recursive calls can be unpredictable with regard to consumption of resources, especially memory. Under certain condition, a function or procedure using a recursive call can keep calling itself and as each call consumes memory, the entire application runs out of memory. Recursive calls are known to be difficult to test for because the termination condition and thus the resource consumption might be dependent on the data used for the test. For all these reasons, it is often forbidden and limited to academic usage rather than for mission-critical systems. Because the flip side is complexity, such a trade-off should be carefully chosen by architects or senior developers, balancing cost with reliability and in all cases the conditions under which it is used should be reviewed in details.

Remediation
Review the Function / Procedure design

Violation Code Sample

<?php
function recursive_global($a) {
   if($a < 4) {
      echo "$a \n";
      recursive_global($a +1);                       //violation
   }
}   
class CastTest {
   public function recursive($b) {
      if($b < 7) {
         echo "$b \n";
         $this->recursive($b +1);                  //violation
      }
   }
}
$test =  new CastTest();
$test->recursive(4);
recursive_global(1);
?>

Fixed Code Sample

<?php
function iterative_global($a) {
   for($a;$a < 4;$a++)
   {
      echo "$a \n" ;                            //violation removed
   }
}
class CastTest {
   public function iterative($b) {
      for($b;$b <7;$b++) {
        echo "$b \n" ;                            //violation removed
      }
   }
}
$test =  new CastTest();
$test->iterative(4);
iterative_global(1);
?>