An Estimated 70% of Websites Share the Same Software, and It Has a Critical Flaw
Government agencies urge companies to install the fix, and to shut sites down temporarily only if an immediate update is not possible.
The Headlines · New U.S.-Israeli Plans to Attack Iran, and Trump’s Whistle-Blower Rewards ProgramBy some estimates, about seven in 10 websites on the internet run on the same underlying software, called PHP. PHP is a free programming language that many sites are built with.
Many sites therefore share this one weak piece of code. A successful attack might reveal personal information or hand intruders command over the servers that host websites.
Security researchers said advanced models from OpenAI helped find the bug. Government security agencies, including the National Security Agency, the U.S. government's electronic intelligence and cybersecurity agency, urged companies to install new updates to fix it. If an immediate patch was not possible, officials said websites ought to go dark temporarily to keep hackers from getting in.
Questions people ask
What should a business with a website do?
Check with your website host or developer whether your site uses PHP and update to the latest patched version. If you cannot update right away, the advice in this case was to temporarily take the site offline rather than leave a known opening for hackers.
Why can one flaw affect so many websites?
It is common because the web is built from shared, reusable parts. That sharing saves time and money, but it also means that one mistake in a popular part can leave millions of sites open to the same attack.
How can AI help find a software bug?
Modern AI models can read and test huge amounts of code much faster than people can. Security researchers use them to probe for unusual patterns or weak spots, and then verify any suspect finding with traditional testing before warning the public.