In late October 2026, a critical pair of remote code execution flaws in the PHP engine—dubbed "PHP2Shell" (CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619)—triggered global emergency patching, massive scanning activity, and active exploitation. Because PHP powers a vast majority of websites and is embedded in countless network management appliances, VPNs, and firewalls, the risk extended far beyond web applications. Threat actors quickly weaponized the flaws, chaining them with a Linux kernel pr...