A critical flaw in the PHP programming language was made public on Tuesday 20 October, having been discovered by AI researchers using the tools as part of a mission to uncover potential vulnerabilities on the web so they could be fixed.
This meant that plenty of websites were taken offline as a precaution, with web servers putting up extra security measures just in case.
The organisation behind PHP were quick to issue a fix, releasing a patch the next day, which hosting platforms across the world have been putting into place.
If your website runs on WordPress, Laravel, Drupal, Perch or other PHP-based CMS platforms, it will need to be patched. In some cases, this is being done automatically, but it’s worth taking a moment to check.
Three simple steps you can take to protect your business
1. Contact your web agency or developer: If someone else manages your website, send them a quick message today: “Please check that our server’s PHP version is updated to the latest secure release.”
2. Contact your web host: If you manage your hosting directly, reach out to support or check your account dashboard (like cPanel) to update your PHP version.
3. Back up your site first: Always ask your developer or host to run a full website backup before updating, just in case.
If your website runs on PHP, it needs to be using 8.2 and above to benefit from the patch.
Taking five minutes to check with your website partner today stops a small flaw from turning into a big problem.
Not sure if your website could be affected by this issue or future vulnerabilities?
Just ask Pokkit – our digital companion is trained on NCSC frameworks and keeps you up to date on the latest cyber security protocols.
