Governments and organisations have taken websites offline following the discovery of two critical security vulnerabilities in PHP, a programming language used by an estimated 70% of websites worldwide.
Security updates were released on Wednesday, 21 October, with agencies urging organisations unable to apply the fixes immediately to consider temporarily shutting down vulnerable systems.
Finland suspended its government’s public web services, while the Netherlands’ cyber-security agency said it was taking its website offline. The US National Security Agency issued similar advice, warning that the flaws could expose server files and databases.
The vulnerabilities were discovered with the help of artificial intelligence. Cybersecurity firm Wiz described the findings as among the most severe vulnerabilities identified with the technology, highlighting AI’s growing role in cybersecurity.
The Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, said it had taken some systems offline as a precaution while applying patches, temporarily affecting access to parts of the online encyclopedia.
The Edinburgh Council’s website and online pages for BBC programmes, including Doctor Who and The Traitors, were also inaccessible. However, neither organisation had confirmed a connection to the PHP vulnerabilities.
Meanwhile, the White House said federal agencies were working with leading AI laboratories to accelerate the development of a solution. Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi urged people to check whether their public-facing websites use PHP.
Administrators have been advised to install the relevant security updates promptly.
