Cyberattacks Exploiting PHP Vulnerabilities Have So Far Failed in Latvia

No cyberattack exploiting vulnerabilities in the PHP programming language has succeeded in Latvia so far, the national cyber incident response institution CERT.LV told the news agency LETA. It also reported that 98% of public sector websites have been restored and are accessible from Latvia.

What happened

Critical security vulnerabilities were discovered in PHP globally, and on 21 October access to a number of Latvian state institutions' websites was restricted as a result. Other companies and institutions were urged to check their systems immediately and install the available security updates.

Current situation

Some website operators plan to keep access restrictions in place until Monday, 26 October. They want to make sure the updates they received are final, contain no flaws, and that no new vulnerabilities emerge in PHP software. CERT.LV stresses that the restrictions are not an incident but a preventive measure to reduce the risk of possible attacks.

Because most public sector resources have resumed operation, specialists consider the update rollout successful. Attempts to attack using the newly discovered vulnerabilities have nevertheless been observed, but none has succeeded so far.

Advice for residents and organisations

Residents abroad who use Latvian mobile operators' services can access information resources and services without disruption. In other cases, people are advised to contact the relevant service provider to find out about alternatives.

PHP developers have published recommendations for reducing the impact of the vulnerabilities in unsupported software versions. These measures only partly limit possible attack methods and do not replace security updates. Systems that cannot be upgraded to a secure PHP version should be cut off from internet access until the risks are addressed.