New exploits arrive for old PHP vulnerability

The number of cyber attacks targeting PHP sites using a known vulnerability has skyrocketed over the past six months, despite the availability of a patch fix for the exploit. Security firm Imperva reported detecting a marked increase in the number of attacks targeting a vulnerability in PHP, which was patched in May 2012, in its Threat Advisory: PHP-CGI white paper. “On October 2013, a public exploit in PHP was disclosed, the exploit uses a vulnerability found in May 2012 and categorised as CVE-2012-1823,” read the report. “Soon after the exploit was released, our honeypots have detected web servers being attacked with this exploit in different flavours. In the three first weeks following the publication we were able to record as many as 30,000 attack campaigns using the exploit.” PHP is a common coding language used by 82 percent of the world’s websites. The Imperva researchers said since the exploit was detailed, attacks targeting it have also increased in sophistication. <more>