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European agencies shut sites as US urges PHP patch after AI-led flaw discovery

hindustantimes.com — October 21, 2026 at 06:01 PM UTC

Government agencies across Europe and elsewhere shut down websites on Wednesday after two critical flaws were discovered in PHP, a programming language underpinning much of the internet, prompting an urgent call from the US National Security Agency to install updates or take vulnerable systems offline. The PHP Foundation released updates fixing the vulnerabilities, which could allow unauthenticated attackers to execute code on servers, and described the issue as a "structural failure." The flaws were found by security firm Calif and OpenAI, with Google-owned Wiz identifying additional exploit methods, after a researcher first flagged signs in 2024. In France, local government sites including the Paris Police Prefecture were taken offline, while the Netherlands shut down its DigiD digital identity service and parliament website as precautions. Belgium's foreign ministry also suspended its sites, though its cybersecurity centre reported no detected attacks.

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European agencies shut sites as US urges PHP patch after AI-led flaw discovery | News Minimalist

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[5.0]

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[5.0]

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[4.9]

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[4.5]

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[4.4]

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[4.4]

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[4.0]

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[3.9]

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[3.7]

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[3.7]

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[3.6]

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[2.6]

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[2.3]

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[2.0]

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[1.9]

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