PHP Exposes Severe Security Vulnerability, Government Websites Across Multiple Countries Taken Offline in Large Scale

Odaily Report: Due to a severe security vulnerability exposed in the widely used PHP programming language, multiple government websites across Europe and other regions were forced offline on Wednesday, with website operators taking emergency measures to protect system security. The PHP development team announced the discovery of two severe security vulnerabilities on Tuesday local time, urging users to update immediately once fix patches are released. The PHP team stated on Wednesday that new versions addressing the vulnerabilities have been officially released.

However, as reports emerged that hackers were exploiting the vulnerabilities to breach websites, government agencies in countries including the Netherlands and Finland had already proactively shut down some websites before the patches were released. PHP is one of the most widely used programming languages on the internet, powering website platforms such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and Magento.

According to data from website technology tracking firm W3Techs, approximately 75% of websites whose programming languages can be identified use PHP. About 43% of websites worldwide are powered by WordPress, spanning blogs, small business sites, government portals, e-commerce platforms, and news websites. This security incident has caused widespread disruptions to websites across multiple European countries. The Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the government portal Overheid.nl, the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB), the websites of the country's five major political parties, and multiple hospital websites have all been temporarily shut down.