10-Year-Old Flaw Surfaces... Japan on Alert Calling It 'Very Urgent'

Following the discovery of a critical security vulnerability in the programming language PHP, the Japanese government and security authorities have issued warnings and urged swift responses.

The Yomiuri Shimbun, NHK, and other media outlets reported that Japan's Information-technology Promotion Agency (IPA), an independent administrative institution, urged website operators using PHP to take prompt action.

The IPA stated that while no attacks exploiting this vulnerability have been confirmed at this time, it is requesting a rapid response due to concerns that it could be exploited in the future.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi also took to X (formerly Twitter) last night (October 21) to call for urgent action regarding PHP, describing the situation as very urgent.

Prime Minister Takaichi said she hopes operators will check whether their running websites use PHP and prepare to apply the security patch, which is scheduled to be released tonight at 11:00 PM, as quickly as possible.

She added that if it is difficult to apply the patch promptly, temporarily suspending websites, for example, is considered an effective way to reduce risk.

PHP is a programming language widely used in web development and is often referred to as the backbone of the web.

PHP powers approximately 70% of all websites worldwide, including popular platforms like WordPress and Wikipedia's MediaWiki.

This vulnerability was discovered using AI and is evaluated as a severe security flaw that went undetected for over 10 years.

Japanese government ministries and corporations have also taken action.

Japan's Ministry of Finance announced that it temporarily suspended some content and services on its website yesterday for emergency inspections and the application of security patches.

Mizuho Bank, one of the major banks, also temporarily suspended its branch visit reservation service via its website that same day, and Rakuten Group stated that it is conducting emergency inspections on some pages of the main screen of its internet shopping mall, Rakuten Market.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.