diff --git a/profiling/src/php_ffi.c b/profiling/src/php_ffi.c
index fd5d07a1755..4a594221247 100644
--- a/profiling/src/php_ffi.c
+++ b/profiling/src/php_ffi.c
@@ -390,17 +390,39 @@ uintptr_t *ddog_test_php_prof_function_run_time_cache(zend_function const *func)
 }
 #endif
 
-#if CFG_STACK_WALKING_TESTS
+#if CFG_STACK_WALKING_TESTS || defined(CFG_TEST)
 static int (*og_snprintf)(char *, size_t, const char *, ...);
 
-// "weak" let's us polyfill, needed by zend_string_init(..., persistent: 1).
-void *__attribute__((weak)) __zend_malloc(size_t len) {
-    void *tmp = malloc(len);
-    if (EXPECTED(tmp || !len)) {
-        return tmp;
+// Manually create a zend_string without using zend_string_init(), since we
+// do not link against PHP at test time
+static zend_string *test_zend_string_create(const char *str, size_t len) {
+    // zend_string has a flexible array member val[1], so we allocate
+    // sizeof(zend_string) - 1 (for the val[1]) + len + 1 (for null terminator)
+    zend_string* zs = calloc(1, sizeof(zend_string) + len);
+    if (!zs) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    // Initialize the refcounted header
+#if PHP_VERSION_ID < 70299
+    GC_REFCOUNT(zs) = 1;
+#else
+    GC_SET_REFCOUNT(zs, 1);
+#endif
+#if PHP_VERSION_ID < 70499
+    GC_TYPE_INFO(zs) = IS_STRING;
+#else
+    GC_TYPE_INFO(zs) = GC_STRING;
+#endif
+
+    zs->h = 0;
+    zs->len = len;
+    if (len > 0) {
+        memcpy(ZSTR_VAL(zs), str, len);
     }
-    fprintf(stderr, "Out of memory\n");
-    exit(1);
+    ZSTR_VAL(zs)[len] = '\0';
+
+    return zs;
 }
 
 static zend_execute_data *create_fake_frame(int depth) {
@@ -412,11 +434,11 @@ static zend_execute_data *create_fake_frame(int depth) {
     char buffer[64] = {0};
     int len = og_snprintf(buffer, sizeof buffer, "function name %03d", depth) + 1;
     ZEND_ASSERT(len >= 0 && sizeof buffer > (size_t)len);
-    op_array->function_name = zend_string_init(buffer, len - 1, true);
+    op_array->function_name = test_zend_string_create(buffer, len - 1);
 
     len = og_snprintf(buffer, sizeof buffer, "filename-%03d.php", depth) + 1;
     ZEND_ASSERT(len >= 0 && sizeof buffer > (size_t)len);
-    op_array->filename = zend_string_init(buffer, len - 1, true);
+    op_array->filename = test_zend_string_create(buffer, len - 1);
 
     return execute_data;
 }
@@ -463,7 +485,39 @@ void ddog_php_test_free_fake_zend_execute_data(zend_execute_data *execute_data)
 
     free(execute_data);
 }
-#endif
+
+zend_function *ddog_php_test_create_fake_zend_function_with_name_len(size_t len) {
+    zend_op_array *op_array = calloc(1, sizeof(zend_function));
+    if (!op_array) return NULL;
+
+    op_array->type = ZEND_USER_FUNCTION;
+
+    if (len > 0) {
+        char *buffer = malloc(len + 1);
+        if (!buffer) {
+            free(op_array);
+            return NULL;
+        }
+        memset(buffer, 'x', len);
+        buffer[len] = '\0';
+        op_array->function_name = test_zend_string_create(buffer, len);
+        free(buffer);
+        if (!op_array->function_name) {
+            free(op_array);
+            return NULL;
+        }
+    }
+
+    return (zend_function *)op_array;
+}
+
+void ddog_php_test_free_fake_zend_function(zend_function *func) {
+    if (!func) return;
+
+    free(func->common.function_name);
+    free(func);
+}
+#endif // CFG_STACK_WALKING_TESTS || CFG_TEST
 
 void *opcache_handle = NULL;
 
diff --git a/profiling/src/profiling/stack_walking.rs b/profiling/src/profiling/stack_walking.rs
index 04a8babfca0..6f38b74dbb1 100644
--- a/profiling/src/profiling/stack_walking.rs
+++ b/profiling/src/profiling/stack_walking.rs
@@ -528,14 +528,20 @@ mod detail {
 
 pub use detail::*;
 
-// todo: this should be feature = "stack_walking_tests" but it seemed to
-//       cause a failure in CI to migrate it.
-#[cfg(all(test, stack_walking_tests))]
+#[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
     use crate::bindings as zend;
 
+    extern "C" {
+        fn ddog_php_test_create_fake_zend_function_with_name_len(
+            len: libc::size_t,
+        ) -> *mut zend::zend_function;
+        fn ddog_php_test_free_fake_zend_function(func: *mut zend::zend_function);
+    }
+
     #[test]
+    #[cfg(stack_walking_tests)]
     fn test_collect_stack_sample() {
         unsafe {
             let fake_execute_data = zend::ddog_php_test_create_fake_zend_execute_data(3);
@@ -560,4 +566,57 @@ mod tests {
             zend::ddog_php_test_free_fake_zend_execute_data(fake_execute_data);
         }
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_extract_function_name_short_string() {
+        unsafe {
+            let func = ddog_php_test_create_fake_zend_function_with_name_len(10);
+            assert!(!func.is_null());
+
+            let name = extract_function_name(&*func).expect("should extract name");
+            assert_eq!(name, "xxxxxxxxxx");
+
+            ddog_php_test_free_fake_zend_function(func);
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_extract_function_name_at_limit_minus_one() {
+        unsafe {
+            let func = ddog_php_test_create_fake_zend_function_with_name_len(STR_LEN_LIMIT - 1);
+            assert!(!func.is_null());
+
+            let name = extract_function_name(&*func).expect("should extract name");
+            assert_eq!(name.len(), STR_LEN_LIMIT - 1);
+            assert_ne!(name, COW_LARGE_STRING);
+
+            ddog_php_test_free_fake_zend_function(func);
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_extract_function_name_at_limit() {
+        unsafe {
+            let func = ddog_php_test_create_fake_zend_function_with_name_len(STR_LEN_LIMIT);
+            assert!(!func.is_null());
+
+            let name = extract_function_name(&*func).expect("should return large string marker");
+            assert_eq!(name, COW_LARGE_STRING);
+
+            ddog_php_test_free_fake_zend_function(func);
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_extract_function_name_over_limit() {
+        unsafe {
+            let func = ddog_php_test_create_fake_zend_function_with_name_len(STR_LEN_LIMIT + 1000);
+            assert!(!func.is_null());
+
+            let name = extract_function_name(&*func).expect("should return large string marker");
+            assert_eq!(name, COW_LARGE_STRING);
+
+            ddog_php_test_free_fake_zend_function(func);
+        }
+    }
 }