PHP Armageddon: OpenAI and Google’s Wiz uncover ancient holes, sparking internet panic
google openai
| Source: TechCrunch | Original article
OpenAI and Google's Wiz have uncovered long‑standing PHP vulnerabilities, sparking widespread internet alarm over AI‑driven security risks.
OpenAI and Google‑owned security firm Wiz have uncovered two critical, decades‑old memory‑safety flaws in PHP’s core interpreter, prompting an urgent warning from the U.S. National Security Agency. The vulnerabilities, present since PHP 5 and exploitable through ordinary web requests, affect the language that powers roughly 70 % of internet sites. AI‑assisted audits – OpenAI’s GPT‑5.6 Sol and Wiz’s AI agents – flagged the flaws, which the agency says demand immediate remediation by upgrading to the current PHP release, 8.5.12.
The discovery underscores a paradox in modern cybersecurity: AI that can locate hidden bugs also lowers the barrier for attackers to weaponise them. Earlier this week we reported that OpenAI’s models had already identified a separate PHP issue, describing the findings as “among several significant vulnerabilities” and warning that similar discoveries would rise sharply. The new NSA alert amplifies those concerns, suggesting the flaws could enable remote code execution on any vulnerable server that has not been patched.
Stakeholders are now watching for a rapid rollout of the PHP 8.5.12 update and for any coordinated disclosure from the language’s maintainers. Security teams will likely increase AI‑driven code reviews across their stacks, while regulators may issue further guidance on AI‑generated vulnerability disclosures. The next few days should reveal whether exploit attempts surface in the wild and how quickly the broader web ecosystem can close the gap that AI has both exposed and, potentially, widened.
Sources
Back to AIPULSEN