PHP Foundation Admits Structural Failures, Critical Security Vulnerability Fixes Delayed

Odaily reports: The PHP Foundation has stated that due to hesitant decision-making and insufficient resources, remediation work for a critical security vulnerability first discovered in 2024 stalled and restarted multiple times, and it characterized the delay as a "structural failure." PHP is a programming language widely used for websites and web applications.

PHP has released emergency patches for two related critical vulnerabilities. Unauthenticated attackers could exploit the flaws to execute code on affected servers without logging in. Some government websites or online services in the Netherlands, Finland, France, Germany, and Australia were temporarily taken offline to prepare for patch installation.

Security firm Calif and OpenAI separately reported the same underlying issue on August 11, and Calif also demonstrated unconditional remote code execution. Blockchain security firm SlowMist investigated PHP usage in the crypto industry and found direct PHP fingerprints on 793 of the 1,488 domains it assessed.

Intersect has temporarily closed its Members Area, Coinbase said it has not found any affected PHP instances, and digital asset infrastructure company BitGo said its platform was not affected. Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao reminded users to exercise heightened caution when visiting websites recently, and OpenAI has released a Codex skill for checking for vulnerable PHP versions. (Cointelegraph)