North Korean government and state media websites have been offline for 24 hours after disclosure of a major PHP vulnerability that left 70% of the world’s websites exposed to hackers. PHP, the scripting language used by those sites, was found to contain a serious bug that could let attackers execute code remotely.
The disclosure triggered a broad response. Companies and governments around the world took websites offline while trying to fix the issue. Countries named in those shutdowns include the Netherlands, France, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Australia, and North Korea.
NetBlocks logs disruption to North Korea’s internet
Internet monitoring group NetBlocks said it recorded an “ongoing disruption” affecting North Korea’s already limited internet connectivity during the panic. It also said international users were unable to access websites under the country’s .kp domain.
In a post dated October 21, 2026, NetBlocks wrote: “Confirmed: Network data show an ongoing disruption to North Korea's already limited internet connectivity. The incident corresponds with the loss of international access to websites under the country's .kp domain.”
Exploit attempts surged after disclosure
Cloudflare co-founder Matthew Prince said that in the 10 hours before the vulnerability was publicly disclosed, Cloudflare saw “thousands of attempts to exploit it.”
He added: “That jumped to tens of thousands in the 45 minutes post announcement, hundreds of thousands within two hours, and millions now.”
Binance says safeguards are in place
Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, said it had implemented safeguards before release of an official patch intended to mitigate the ongoing PHP security issue.
Co-founder Changpeng Zhao urged users to be “extra careful” when visiting websites because “some web admins are not always up-to-date with security patches.”
BNB Chain, MEXC, and Trust Wallet say they were not affected
Nina Rong, executive director of growth at Binance’s BNB Chain, said BNB Chain “does not use PHP in our tech stack.”
BNB Chain also said: “Our network and core infrastructure are unaffected by the PHP2Shell vulnerabilities. We remind the community to be extra vigilant and stay SAFU at all times.”
Crypto exchange MEXC and crypto wallet Trust Wallet also said they were not affected because neither company uses PHP infrastructure.
MEXC added that third parties used by the firm that do rely on PHP “have completed the necessary fixes.”
