PHP website vulnerability re: our site

[JanAtheCPA]

If you saw news like any of these (all in my email newsfeeds early this morning PDT) it might have crossed your mind to wonder if any sites that you use, including ours, might have been vulnerable: https://www.wired.com/story/this-is-not-a-drill-2-php-vulnerabilities-are-setting-the-internet-on-fire/ (‘This Is Not a Drill’: Critical PHP Vulnerabilities Are Setting the Internet on Fire)

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

Precautionary takedowns come as experts say vulnerability in PHP, which is used by 70% of sites, could be exploited

www.theguardian.com

It certainly crossed my mind, and I contacted Forest immediately, but he had received notice about this yesterday, took down our site very briefly mid-afternoon EDT, and applied the patches. He said "In order to get the site back up again so quickly, I actually had to switch to the so-called "testing" version of PHP temporarily. Our server automatically updates its software every night, so we'll be back on the normal, non-testing version soon."

So hooray for that, and we're thankful he's on top of his tech alerts!

Running a web site is a job, people. And also a labor of love in this case!

 

[Forest]

Thanks, Jan. That was a heck of a vulnerability. It was strange to wake up the following morning and see it in the "Top Stories" section of both the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. Roughly 70% of websites use PHP, so if a vulnerability is found, that's a big deal.