Huo Xing Cai Jing reports that on October 21, multiple government websites across Europe and other regions were taken offline on Wednesday due to the discovery of critical security vulnerabilities in the widely used PHP programming language, prompting website operators to urgently implement measures to secure their systems. The PHP development team announced on Tuesday local time the discovery of two severe security vulnerabilities and urged users to update immediately after patches were released. On Wednesday, the PHP team confirmed that updated versions fixing the vulnerabilities had been officially released. However, citing reports that hackers were actively exploiting the vulnerabilities to compromise websites, government agencies in countries such as the Netherlands and Finland had already proactively shut down certain websites prior to the patch release. PHP is one of the most widely used programming languages on the internet, powering platforms such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and Magento. According to data from web technology analytics firm W3Techs, approximately 75% of websites that identify their programming language use PHP. Globally, about 43% of websites are powered by WordPress, encompassing blogs, small business sites, government portals, e-commerce platforms, and news sites. This security incident has caused widespread outages across multiple European websites. The Port of Rotterdam, the government portal Overheid.nl, the Dutch Football Association, websites of the country’s five major political parties, and numerous hospital websites have all been temporarily shut down.
PHP Security Vulnerability Forces Government Websites Offline in Europe
MarsBitShare
Summary
A critical PHP vulnerability took government websites offline across Europe on October 21, 2026, as the Netherlands and Finland preemptively shut down key portals. The PHP team released patches for two severe flaws, but attacks occurred before updates could be applied. The disruption impacted the Port of Rotterdam, Overheid.nl, and hospital websites. PHP powers 75% of identifiable websites, including WordPress and Magento. The incident has raised concerns regarding compliance with CFT and MiCA regulations under EU law.
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