Flaw in PHP computer language leads to shutdown of websites around world

The Guardian UK Wednesday 21 October 2026, 18:20 UTC By Robert Booth and Aisha Down 1 min read

Key Points

Precautionary takedowns come as experts say bad actors could exploit vulnerability in language used by 70% of sitesWebsites around the globe have gone dark after a serious vulnerability was found in a computer language used to build much of the world wide web. Dutch, German, Belgian, Finnish and French sites were among those governments took down temporarily as they scrambled to patch the critical weakness in PHP, a language used by almost 70% of websites.

Precautionary takedowns come as experts say bad actors could exploit vulnerability in language used by 70% of sites

Websites around the globe have gone dark after a serious vulnerability was found in a computer language used to build much of the world wide web.

Dutch, German, Belgian, Finnish and French sites were among those governments took down temporarily as they scrambled to patch the critical weakness in PHP, a language used by almost 70% of websites.

PHP (ORG) Dutch (ORG) German (ORG) Belgian (ORG) Finnish (ORG) French (ORG)

Originally published by The Guardian UK Read original →

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Flaw in PHP computer language leads to shutdown of websites around world

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