Hackers got a four-day head start on epic PHP2Shell vulnerability
Hackers were already probing the bug before defenders were told it existed.
TL;DR
- Critical vulnerabilities in the PHP programming language were discovered using AI tools.
- Hackers began exploiting these flaws four days before they were publicly disclosed.
- Governments and companies are rushing to secure systems affected by the widespread bugs.
- The NSA and UK authorities warned that the vulnerabilities leave websites critically exposed.
- AI, including models from OpenAI and Google, played a significant role in uncovering these decade-old, undetected flaws.
- PHP powers approximately 70 percent of all websites, largely due to its use in WordPress.
- The vulnerabilities could allow attackers to take control of a website's server without credentials.
- Organizations are advised to immediately update systems or take them offline if an update is not feasible.