Government institutions, media organisations and businesses across several countries have taken websites and digital services offline after artificial intelligence-assisted security checks exposed serious vulnerabilities in PHP, a programming language used extensively across the internet.

The flaws were identified during separate cybersecurity investigations, prompting urgent warnings to organisations running affected systems to install available security updates before hackers could exploit the weaknesses.

Cybersecurity firm Wiz estimates that PHP powers about 70 per cent of websites globally. The vulnerabilities could allow attackers to gain unauthorised access to servers, potentially exposing confidential records and enabling the alteration of website content.

The United States National Security Agency urged affected organisations to apply the security patch immediately or disconnect vulnerable systems from the internet. PHP developers released the fix on Wednesday, but the disclosure of technical details online a day earlier triggered emergency measures ahead of the update.

The discovery has intensified concerns about the growing role of artificial intelligence in cybersecurity, as advanced models become increasingly capable of identifying weaknesses that human reviewers may overlook. Security firm Calif reportedly detected the flaws in August using OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Sol during an audit funded by the technology company, while Wiz later identified them independently with assistance from AI models.

According to Channels Television, affected services included government websites in Australia and the Netherlands, local authority platforms in France, and services operated by insurance companies, transport providers and media organisations. Wikipedia’s operator, the Wikimedia Foundation, also warned of possible disruptions as it temporarily disabled some supporting services while applying security measures.

Authorities in Japan and South Korea also urged organisations to respond urgently, while cybersecurity experts warned that the increasing pace of AI-assisted vulnerability discovery could place additional pressure on businesses to update their systems more frequently.

The PHP Foundation described immediate patching as essential for organisations using the affected software, as developers and security teams work to prevent the vulnerabilities from being exploited.