Government websites and online services across Europe and other parts of the world were taken offline on Wednesday, after researchers using artificial intelligence discovered two critical vulnerabilities in PHP, a programming language supporting an estimated 70 per cent of websites whose server-side technology is known. Developers released emergency security patches as cybersecurity agencies warned of attacks against systems that remain unprotected.

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The disruptions affected Finland, the Netherlands, France, Denmark and other countries, with authorities temporarily suspending public services while preparing software updates. The vulnerabilities received a severity rating of 9.2 out of 10 and allow attackers to execute commands remotely on affected servers without authentication.

Cybersecurity companies Calif and Google-owned Wiz independently identified the flaws using AI-assisted research. Calif reported its discovery to PHP developers in August after using OpenAI technology, while Wiz employed its Atlas research system alongside Google’s Gemini and OpenAI models.

The vulnerabilities had existed in PHP’s underlying code for years without detection. Researchers said AI tools helped identify and demonstrate weaknesses that would have required extensive manual investigation.

Wiz described the findings as among the most severe vulnerabilities discovered in PHP.

PHP developers published corrective updates on Wednesday and urged administrators to install them immediately. Security specialists warned that releasing the patches would also help attackers identify vulnerable systems by examining the changes.

The potential consequences include unauthorised access to servers, theft of information, website manipulation and installation of malicious software.

Internet intelligence company Censys estimated that approximately 1.5 million of 2.6 million identified PHP hosts were running software versions for which no patch was available, Reuters reported.

The vulnerabilities affect systems using PHP, which supports content management platforms including WordPress, Drupal and Joomla. WordPress alone powers approximately 40 per cent of websites worldwide.

In Finland, the Government ICT Centre Valtori began restricting access to government websites earlier on Wednesday.

By Wednesday evening, Valtori confirmed that it had started installing updates across systems under its management. The agency stressed that the shutdowns were precautionary and did not result from a confirmed security breach.

Finnish services affected included the National Land Survey, National Archives, Finnish Defence Forces, Central Finland wellbeing services county and the universities of Jyväskylä and Tampere.

The Helsinki Expo and Convention Center, Finnish Film Foundation and several services operated by public broadcaster Yle also experienced interruptions.

Elsewhere in Europe, the Netherlands took its national cybersecurity agency’s website offline, alongside government portals and services operated by the Port of Rotterdam.

France’s Interior Ministry placed its websites under preventive maintenance, while Denmark suspended services including a national school communication platform.

In Britain, local authority websites in Edinburgh, Bristol and Oxford were temporarily unavailable.

The Wikimedia Foundation also suspended several systems until administrators completed security updates. The Internet Archive reported a temporary interruption.

The US National Security Agency advised organisations unable to install the patches to disconnect affected services. Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre issued similar guidance and recommended checking systems for signs of unauthorised access.

HT