diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/build-pecl.nix b/pkgs/build-support/build-pecl.nix
index d30a073d2fb9..389447e066fa 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/build-pecl.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/build-pecl.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, lib, php, autoreconfHook, fetchurl, re2c }:
+{ stdenv, lib, php, autoreconfHook, fetchurl, re2c, nix-update-script }:
 
 { pname
 , version
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
     url = "https://pecl.php.net/get/${pname}-${version}.tgz";
     inherit (args) sha256;
   }
+, passthru ? { }
 , ...
 }@args:
 
@@ -34,4 +35,12 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (args // {
       internalDeps}
   '';
   checkPhase = "NO_INTERACTON=yes make test";
+
+  passthru = passthru // {
+    # Thes flags were introduced for `nix-update` so that it can update
+    # PHP extensions correctly.
+    # See the corresponding PR: https://github.com/Mic92/nix-update/pull/123
+    isPhpExtension = true;
+    updateScript = nix-update-script {};
+  };
 })
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/php-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/php-packages.nix
index df2167b99077..410e28827d8d 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/php-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/php-packages.nix
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 , libxslt
 , libzip
 , net-snmp
+, nix-update-script
 , oniguruma
 , openldap
 , openssl_1_1
@@ -51,13 +52,16 @@ lib.makeScope pkgs.newScope (self: with self; {
   buildPecl = import ../build-support/build-pecl.nix {
     php = php.unwrapped;
     inherit lib;
-    inherit (pkgs) stdenv autoreconfHook fetchurl re2c;
+    inherit (pkgs) stdenv autoreconfHook fetchurl re2c nix-update-script;
   };
 
   # Wrap mkDerivation to prepend pname with "php-" to make names consistent
   # with how buildPecl does it and make the file easier to overview.
   mkDerivation = { pname, ... }@args: pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation (args // {
     pname = "php-${pname}";
+    passthru = {
+      updateScript = nix-update-script {};
+    };
     meta = args.meta // {
       mainProgram = args.meta.mainProgram or pname;
     };