diff --git a/phpBB/includes/functions_admin.php b/phpBB/includes/functions_admin.php
index 6f95bc13bd..0b9ea23fe7 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/functions_admin.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/functions_admin.php
@@ -2990,11 +2990,13 @@ function get_remote_file($host, $directory, $filename, &$errstr, &$errno, $port
 	global $phpbb_container;
 
 	// Get file downloader and assign $errstr and $errno
-	$file_downloader = $phpbb_container->get('file_downloader')
-		->set_error_string($errstr)
-		->set_error_number($errno);
+	$file_downloader = $phpbb_container->get('file_downloader');
 
-	return $file_downloader->get($host, $directory, $filename, $port, $timeout);
+	$file_data = $file_downloader->get($host, $directory, $filename, $port, $timeout);
+	$errstr = $file_downloader->get_error_string();
+	$errno = $file_downloader->get_error_number();
+
+	return $file_data;
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/phpBB/phpbb/file_downloader.php b/phpBB/phpbb/file_downloader.php
index 2d5d9a7516..2a2b8dbab5 100644
--- a/phpBB/phpbb/file_downloader.php
+++ b/phpBB/phpbb/file_downloader.php
@@ -38,6 +38,10 @@ class file_downloader
 	 */
 	function get($host, $directory, $filename, $port = 80, $timeout = 6)
 	{
+		// Set default values for error variables
+		$this->error_number = 0;
+		$this->error_string = '';
+
 		if ($socket = @fsockopen($host, $port, $this->error_number, $this->error_string, $timeout))
 		{
 			@fputs($socket, "GET $directory/$filename HTTP/1.0\r\n");
@@ -95,30 +99,22 @@ class file_downloader
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Set error string
+	 * Get error string
 	 *
-	 * @param string $error_string Error string
-	 *
-	 * @return self
+	 * @return string Error string
 	 */
-	public function set_error_string(&$error_string)
+	public function get_error_string()
 	{
-		$this->error_string = &$error_string;
-
-		return $this;
+		return $this->error_string;
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Set error number
+	 * Get error number
 	 *
-	 * @param int $error_number Error number
-	 *
-	 * @return self
+	 * @return int Error number
 	 */
-	public function set_error_number(&$error_number)
+	public function get_error_number()
 	{
-		$this->error_number = &$error_number;
-
-		return $this;
+		return $this->error_number;
 	}
 }
diff --git a/phpBB/phpbb/version_helper.php b/phpBB/phpbb/version_helper.php
index d7f1f02678..38050d8ad7 100644
--- a/phpBB/phpbb/version_helper.php
+++ b/phpBB/phpbb/version_helper.php
@@ -254,9 +254,6 @@ class version_helper
 		}
 		else if ($info === false || $force_update)
 		{
-			$errstr = $errno = '';
-			$this->file_downloader->set_error_number($errno)
-				->set_error_string($errstr);
 			try {
 				$info = $this->file_downloader->get($this->host, $this->path, $this->file);
 			}
@@ -264,10 +261,11 @@ class version_helper
 			{
 				throw new \RuntimeException(call_user_func_array(array($this->user, 'lang'), $exception->getMessage()));
 			}
+			$error_string = $this->file_downloader->get_error_string();
 
-			if (!empty($errstr))
+			if (!empty($error_string))
 			{
-				throw new \RuntimeException($errstr);
+				throw new \RuntimeException($error_string);
 			}
 
 			$info = json_decode($info, true);