Home » do not delete stream » PHP: The three little letters wreaking havoc across the web

PHP: The three little letters wreaking havoc across the web

October 22, 2026 Terrence O’Brien

Cybersecurity illustration by Carlo Cadenas.

Two vulnerabilities found in the programming language PHP put enormous swaths of the internet in danger.

By some accounts, up to 70 percent of websites use PHP in some capacity. It powers Wikipedia, WordPress, Drupal, and a host of other popular sites and platforms, including DeviantArt and 4Chan, which were temporarily shut down after the vulnerabilities were disclosed. Even governments weren’t immune.

But it’s not as simple as updating a few servers. The vulnerability exists in every version of PHP dating back roughly 20 years, many of which are no longer supported. That means some older sites and services that are no longer actively maintained are at risk, leaving them with little option but to permanently shut down.

Here’s all the latest developments in what security firm Wiz has called “among the most severe vulnerabilities discovered … in software history.”

Previous Article
Apple’s Magic Keyboards for iPad are about half off, with a small catch
Apple’s Magic Keyboards for iPad are about half off, with a small catch

You can outfit your iPad Air or iPad Pro with one of Apple’s slick Magic Keyboards for considerably less th...

Next Article
You could just get a refurbished Samsung phone on Amazon
You could just get a refurbished Samsung phone on Amazon

I recently bought a used Galaxy phone, and now Samsung is leaning into that market on Amazon after raising ...

Return to Home