I think there’s more than enough information upthread (including linked threads) so that any shared hosting user afflicted with not-working exec functions can fix it for himself, one way or another.
Don’t expect any further code changes and/or handholding from me personally because of this.
I’m not sure whether your php interpreter is malfunctioning or you managed to corrupt the source checkout somehow but I don’t see any syntax errors there in git master. Not sure what to tell you (other than to suggest you switch to a supported deployment method).
After reviewing the errors in the database (ttrss_error_log), I found that there was an undefined function filter_var() being used. I installed the php73-filter-7.3.23 package (where this function is defined on FreeBSD) and the issue was resolved. I’ve not run into this exit code 255 problem on CentOS 7.8.2003 so I can’t suggest a solution on that platform.
The nutshell: Check the database error logs to see if there are any undefined functions you can install support for using your operating system’s tools. This is assuming you’re not using Docker.