Immunefi CEO: PHP vulnerability confirms the arrival of the AI vulnerability apocalypse as scheduled, urging vigilance against wallet risks

The vulnerability bounty platform Immunefi's CEO Mitchell Amador warned that internet users still face the risk of cyberattacks triggered by PHP vulnerabilities, especially small websites that are slow to adopt emergency upgrades, which may take weeks to patch. He stated, "The vulnerability apocalypse" is coming as planned, where the cost of discovering vulnerabilities becomes cheap while the cost of fixing them remains high. He advised users to treat any websites they log into in the coming weeks as potentially compromised, avoid reusing passwords, exercise caution when connecting to encrypted wallets, and revoke token authorizations that are unrecognizable.

Previously, the PHP Foundation admitted that it delayed fixing a critical security vulnerability first discovered in 2024 due to resource shortages. PHP developers released emergency patches for two critical vulnerabilities on the same day, but each website still needs to complete the upgrade on its own. Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince stated that within 24 hours of the PHP vulnerability being publicly disclosed, the web recorded millions of exploitation attempts, with thousands of attempts even before the disclosure. According to W3Techs, PHP supports about 69% of websites with known server-side programming languages, and these vulnerabilities could allow attackers to spread malware or inject malicious scripts into websites.

The FBI's Cyber Division also warned that these vulnerabilities could allow malicious actors to "remotely execute code in the PHP core, potentially compromising sensitive data and networks." Amador warned in an interview with Cointelegraph in June that the proliferation of cutting-edge AI models has changed the cybersecurity landscape, giving attackers an advantage, leading to the emergence of the "vulnerability apocalypse," and triggering a resurgence of DeFi hacking attacks. Immunefi is the world's largest vulnerability bounty platform, having paid out $140 million in bounties to 650 protocols to date.