AI models helped uncover critical PHP vulnerabilities affecting the internet

Researchers used AI language models from OpenAI and Google to discover critical vulnerabilities in PHP, software that powers a large portion of web infrastructure. The Dutch government took multiple websites offline as a precautionary measure while security teams worked to patch the flaws and coordinate a response.

The discovery, known as PHP2Shell, represents a case where AI tools accelerated the process of finding serious security issues before they could be exploited at scale. Security firms including Wiz documented how the models assisted in uncovering the vulnerabilities and helped develop protections against potential attacks.