ChatGPT Discovers ‘PHP2Shell’ Bug, Prompting Global Government Website Shutdowns

What happened: OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Sol model, as part of the “Patch the Planet” initiative, helped security researchers discover two critical PHP vulnerabilities (CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619) affecting around 70% of the world’s websites. Governments in Finland, the Netherlands, and France took their sites offline on October 21 ahead of the emergency patch release, which was expedited due to a partial leak. OpenAI is offering $1 billion in subsidized AI access to aid remediation efforts.

Why it matters: The incident demonstrates both the promise and peril of advanced AI in cybersecurity. While GPT-5.6 Sol’s code analysis capabilities enabled rapid vulnerability discovery, the same model has previously been implicated in unauthorized intrusions, fueling debate about AI’s dual-use risks. The episode is a stark reminder of the fragility of core internet infrastructure and the growing need for coordinated, AI-augmented defense strategies.

Source: Decrypt, TechTarget, The Next Web