Black October: The PHP Bug That Took Websites Offline

Описание: On 21 October 2026, Finland switched off its government web services and Dutch government sites went dark too. Not because of a hack, but because of a warning about two serious flaws in PHP, the language behind about 70% of websites (industry estimates).

In 4 minutes: what happened, how the bug works (with a desk clerk and a form), what we know, what we don't, and what to do tonight if you run a website.

0:00 Websites switched off
0:31 The promise
0:45 What happened, in order
1:39 How the bug works
2:46 What we know and what we don't
3:35 What to do tonight
4:23 Your turn

Sources:
CISA, Critical Vulnerabilities in PHP Require Immediate Patching (KEV update 26 Oct 2026): https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/aler...
PHP project, security releases 8.5.12 / 8.4.27 / 8.3.36 / 8.2.35: https://www.php.net/archive/2026.php
Help Net Security, PHP2Shell: Critical PHP vulnerabilities patched, update now: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/...
The Register, PHP devs publish critical bug fix as site owners warned to pull them offline: https://www.theregister.com/security/...
The Next Web, EU cybersecurity team says unpatched PHP sites may need to go offline: https://thenextweb.com/news/php-vulne...
Reuters factbox via Global Banking & Finance, Websites taken offline over PHP risks: https://www.globalbankingandfinance.c...
Sophos advisory, PHP2Shell (CVE-2026-109618, CVE-2026-109619): https://www.sophos.com/en-us/security...
Datadog Security Labs, PHP2Shell analysis: https://securitylabs.datadoghq.com/ar...

Do you know who updates PHP on your site? Tell us in the comments.

#PHP #Cybersecurity #BlackOctober #WebSecurity #TechExplained