Websites across world hit by millions of attempts to exploit PHP code flaw

Key Points:

• A critical vulnerability in the PHP programming language, which supports around 70% of websites globally, has led to millions of exploitation attempts, prompting governments and companies to temporarily take websites offline for urgent patching.
• In the UK, 32 government services were taken offline as a precaution, with no confirmed successful hacks reported; major sites like the BBC’s Traitors, Internet Archive, Wikipedia, and 4Chan were also temporarily affected.
• The vulnerability, dubbed PHP2Shell, is considered one of the most severe in recent years, potentially allowing attackers to control web servers, steal data, disrupt services, and use compromised sites for malicious activities such as crypto mining or launching untraceable attacks.
• Cybersecurity experts and agencies, including the US NSA and the UK’s NCSC, have issued urgent warnings and guidance, with countries like South Korea, China, and Japan activating emergency measures and advising immediate system upgrades or site shutdowns to mitigate risks.
• The flaw had existed for decades but was only recently exploitable due to advances in AI, raising concerns about widespread weaponization by criminal groups and state-sponsored hackers, although large-scale exploitation has not yet been confirmed.