A Guide to the Internet’s Biggest Security Crisis of the Year: What Is PHP2Shell and Should You Worry?

Cloudflare recorded thousands of attack attempts on several before the official announcement of the vulnerability, and just two hours after the announcement, that number grew to hundreds of thousands, and then to millions. The situation was further complicated by the fact that the details of the hole were leaked online before the patches were ready, so security experts had to react faster than they had planned.

What is PHP?

PHP is the programming language that powers almost 70 percent of all web pages on the Internet. If you’ve ever used WordPress, Drupal or almost any government portal, bank site or web shop – you’ve probably used a site that runs on PHP. It is no exaggeration to say that PHP is one of the foundations of the modern Internet.

What is PHP2Shell?

PHP2Shell is the name for two serious security holes found in PHP, rated 9.2 out of 10 in severity. A hacker who exploits them does not need any password or previous access – it is enough to send a specially formed request to the vulnerable server. If it succeeds, it can take control of the page, steal data, or redirect you to a fake page without you noticing.

How did the crisis come about?

Details of the hole were leaked online before the patches were ready. Hackers immediately began their attacks – Cloudflare recorded thousands of attempts even before the official announcement, and in the hours after the vulnerability became public, that number jumped to millions. “I haven’t seen anything like this in a long, long time,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Who is moreć professional?

Japanese banks, airlines and railways temporarily shut down Internet services. The Finnish government has shut down public web services. Japan has suspended online tax administration. French Orange has closed a number of its sites. All this as a precaution until the patches are installed – not necessarily because they were attacked.

Patches are available and large sites probably have moreć installed. The problem is smaller and less well-maintained sites, especially those using older versions of PHP that no longer receive security updates at all. It can take weeks to patch their systems.

What should you do?

Nothing special – this is not a patch for your browser, but for website servers. However, be careful these days: if a page unexpectedly redirects you somewhere else or a file does not start downloading by itself – immediately close your browser and run an antivirus program.