> Government websites go dark as vulnerabilities in PHP programming language send shudder across internet

Oct 21 (Reuters) - Government websites in Europe and elsewhere went offline on Wednesday after the disclosure of critical vulnerabilities in a widely used programming language sent website operators scrambling to protect their systems.

Developers ​of the PHP programming language said Tuesday they had identified two critical vulnerabilities, opens new tab and urged ​users to update their sites as soon as a fix was released. ⁠With reports that hackers were already exploiting the flaws to break into websites, government agencies in ​the Netherlands and Finland were among those that took sites offline as a precaution.

PHP underpins large ​parts of the internet, raising concerns that a significant number of websites could be vulnerable to attack.

"PHP is everywhere. It quietly powers WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and Magento sites, shared hosting platforms, control panels, and an awful ​lot of software that doesn't even advertise that it runs PHP under the hood," cybersecurity company ​Huntress said in a blog post.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci … 026-10-21/