Critical PHP vulnerability prompts government websites offline

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 21 Oct, 20:32 · Archive

Government websites across Europe have gone offline after critical vulnerabilities were discovered in PHP, the programming language underpinning most of the internet.

Government websites in Europe and elsewhere have gone offline following the public disclosure of critical vulnerabilities in PHP, a programming language that underpins huge parts of the public-facing web. PHP developers released urgent fixes on Wednesday after the flaws, which had existed for years, were uncovered using artificial intelligence. The vulnerabilities affect approximately 75 per cent of websites and applications running on PHP.

Cybersecurity firms have warned that hackers are already exploiting the flaws. Because the fix is now public and AI tools can easily reverse engineer the bug, experts said they are bracing for a widespread wave of intrusions as attackers race to compromise vulnerable systems before updates are installed. Costin Raiu, co-founder of cybersecurity firm TLP:Black, described AI as powering a 'race to exploit' and warned of 'mass compromise of every vulnerable web server on the internet.'

PHP is embedded in WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and Magento sites. Tiffany Farriss, interim chief executive of the Drupal Association, said that 'all servers using any version of PHP released in the last 20 years will be vulnerable' and that 'this issue impacts the majority of the Internet.' Cybersecurity agencies worldwide have urged PHP users to update immediately or take websites offline until patches can be applied.

How it is being reported

• Government websites go dark after AI-discovers flawApproximately 75 per cent of websites and the applications they host run on the PHP programming language where vulnerabilities have been identified.The West Australian · 21 Oct, 20:15
• Government websites go dark after AI-discovers flawApproximately 75 per cent of websites and the applications they host run on the PHP programming language where vulnerabilities have been identified.Perth Now · 21 Oct, 20:15

In this story: PHP · Drupal Association · TLP:Black · Europe · Costin Raiu · Tiffany Farriss

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