Decades-old flaw discovered in PHP forces govt websites to go offline globally
A decades-old critical vulnerability in the PHP programming language forced government portals and public websites globally to go offline. Cybersecurity experts warn that AI tools could accelerate the exploitation of unpatched servers across the internet.
Why it matters
Because PHP powers a vast majority of the web, this critical vulnerability poses a systemic risk to global digital infrastructure.
Government portals, municipal networks and public institutions across Europe and other regions went offline on Wednesday (October 21) after researchers disclosed critical vulnerabilities in PHP, a foundational programming language that powers a vast portion of the global web. The disclosures prompted emergency responses from IT teams worldwide, with operators taking critical servers offline as a defensive shield to prevent malicious intrusions before security updates could be deployed. Developers of the open-source PHP language published urgent security fixes for flaws that had remained buried inside the language’s codebase for years.
Headlinne story · 7 newsrooms
Global Websites Go Dark After AI Uncovers Critical Programming Language Flaws
What every outlet reported, where they differ, and how each framed it →
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in