Government websites and online services were disrupted after concerns about a PHP bug that could allow attackers to take control of vulnerable servers.
The PHP Foundation has acknowledged that indecision and a shortage of resources delayed a fix for a critical security flaw first identified in 2024, calling the stalled response a “structural failure.”
Government agencies and other organizations worldwide took websites offline Wednesday as a precaution while PHP released emergency patches for two related critical vulnerabilities. The flaws could allow unauthenticated attackers to execute code on affected servers without logging in.
PHP is a programming language widely used to power websites and web applications, including content management systems.
In a blog post following the release of the patch, the foundation described how its developers first found signs of the vulnerability in 2024, but struggled to come up with a solution without disrupting the large ecosystem of software built using PHP.
“Combined with the lack of a known path to remote code execution and the small team of core developers with the necessary deep knowledge of the engine occupied with many responsibilities, this decision process caused work on a fix to stall and restart repeatedly over months,” said the foundation.
“We won’t pretend otherwise: the delay was a structural failure, caused by both the security team’s decision process and its lack of resources.”
The foundation was pointed to the vulnerability again on August 11, after security firm Calif and OpenAI independently reported the same underlying issue, with Calif demonstrating unconditional remote code execution, which made it a top security priority.
The disruption stretched across the world as developers disconnected websites while preparing to install the emergency fixes.
The Netherlands shut its digital identity service, and the country’s National Cyber Security Center also took its website offline.
Finland’s state IT provider Valtori disconnected government public web services, while France’s Interior Ministry temporarily took prefecture websites offline. Germany’s federal IT provider ITZBund also disabled several websites, according to Reuters.
In Australia, the Australian Signals Directorate acknowledged that its cybersecurity website, cyber.gov.au, was among government sites affected by the PHP issue.
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