Critical PHP Vulnerabilities (PHP2Shell) Actively Exploited, Urging Immediate Patching

Global cybersecurity agencies are urging immediate patching for two critical PHP vulnerabilities, CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619, collectively known as PHP2Shell. These flaws allow unauthenticated remote code execution on vulnerable web servers, impacting an estimated 70% of websites, including major content management systems. Exploitation attempts have been reported, with some government websites temporarily taken offline for mitigation. Researchers have confirmed successful exploitation on honeypot servers, demonstrating attackers' ability to run shell commands. The vulnerabilities, which have existed for decades, highlight the fragility of foundational internet infrastructure and the accelerating role of AI in both discovering and exploiting such flaws.