AI Helps Uncover 14-Year Old Internet Flaw as Exploit Attempts Hit Millions

Last week, a newly disclosed flaw in PHP, the programming language behind an estimated 70% of the world’s websites, was uncovered with the help of AI and drew millions of exploit attempts within hours. The following are selected views on the situation:

• Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince said the company saw “thousands of attempts to exploit it” across its network beginning 10 hours before the vulnerability was publicly disclosed. Attempts rose to “tens of thousands in the 45 minutes post announcement, hundreds of thousands within 2 hours, and millions” by that evening.

• U.S. National Security Agency: “Cyber actors are likely to weaponize PHP2Shell vulnerabilities. These risks are serious enough to require immediate patching across United States Government departments and agencies.”

• FBI Cyber Division warned that the vulnerabilities may “allow malicious cyber actors to remotely execute code in PHP core, potentially compromising sensitive data and networks.”

• Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi issued “an urgent request for everyone to take action,” adding, “If it is difficult to apply the fix patch promptly, temporarily suspending websites and similar measures can be considered an effective way to reduce risk.”

• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella: “I’ve not seen anything like this in a long, long time.”

Note: Calif, an AI security firm, first found the flaw during August using OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Sol model, and Google-owned cloud security firm Wiz independently identified a related issue.

OUR TAKE   

• AI tools will likely uncover more long-hidden vulnerabilities in widely used software, and at a faster pace than in the past.

• Expect AI developers to play an increasing role in finding and fixing software flaws, working with governments, businesses and other organizations.

• Organizations will need to install fixes faster, and those running older software that no longer gets updates will need to upgrade or risk data theft, takeover of their web servers and service disruptions.