Most of the internet is suddenly melting down, and there’s only one fix

The internet isn’t safe. That’s the warning going around the world today, as two newly discovered vulnerabilities instantaneously made the majority of websites susceptible to targeted attacks. This isn’t a problem that impacts one site or service. It’s a global phenomenon, and you should be prepared for what happens next.

On October 20, the discovery was leaked online of two PHP vulnerabilities, dubbed CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619. Together, they’re called php2shell. Although the original source is unknown, security experts at Huntress and watchTowr confirmed the leak’s authenticity.

Hackers could commandeer a PHP-powered website, steal sensitive user data, and deploy ransomware to extort money from the owners of the targeted site.

PHP, which stands for Hypertext Preprocessor, is an openly available scripting language that developers use to build websites and