AI helped researchers find two serious flaws in PHP, a language used by huge parts of the web. Here is what happened and why some websites went dark.
AI Found a Serious Bug in PHP, and Government Websites Went Offline
A bug is a mistake in computer code. Some bugs are tiny. Some are huge. This week, AI helped find two very big ones, and websites around the world felt it.
What Is PHP?
PHP is a programming language that helps run websites. According to the Newcastle Herald, it dates back to the early 1990s and is built into popular website tools like WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and Magento. A news roundup on Ground News says roughly 70 percent of websites run on it.
What Happened?
The Associated Press, in a story carried by La Nación, reported that the FBI and the National Security Agency warned about two “critical vulnerabilities” in PHP. A vulnerability is a weak spot that bad actors could use to break in. The agencies said website operators who could not update right away should take their sites offline. Several government websites did just that.
Let’s Data Science reports that Canada pulled government pages for “urgent maintenance,” Finland shut down public web services for a time, and the Dutch cyber-security agency took its own site offline. PHP’s developers said, “All PHP users are strongly encouraged to update immediately.”
How Did AI Help?
The security company Wiz said it found the flaws using its own AI research tool along with models from Google and OpenAI, according to ARY News. The AP report says OpenAI led a group of researchers and security companies that worked on the problem for two months. Wiz called these the most severe flaws AI has ever found, Let’s Data Science says.
Why Is This Also a Warning?
AI can find weak spots fast, which helps the people fixing them. But The Neuron reports that attackers are also using AI to speed up parts of their work, which leaves less time to repair new flaws. That makes quick updates more important than ever.
Is Every Website in Danger?
Not necessarily. Let’s Data Science notes that not every PHP site is vulnerable, because it depends on how each site is set up. Emergency fixes were released on October 21. If you run a website, it is a good idea to ask your web host or developer whether PHP has been updated.
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