Top 10 Security Stories: WordPress XSS Flaw, PHP Vulnerabilities, and VMware ESX Issues Lead Weekly Roundup
Security NEXT has released its weekly ranking of the ten most-read articles published between August 2 and August 8, 2026. The list reflects reader interest in newly disclosed vulnerabilities and security incidents affecting popular software platforms and enterprise systems.
The top story reported an XSS vulnerability in the WordPress login screen, with a patched version now available. Second place went to multiple vulnerabilities in PHP that prompted a security release from the project maintainers.
Third on the list was a serious flaw in pgAdmin 4, which also exposed shortcomings in a previous fix. The fourth article advised organizations to prepare for the summer holiday period and pay special attention to the Patch Tuesday scheduled during the Obon week.
Fifth place covered critical vulnerabilities in VMware ESX and VMware vCenter, accompanied by the release of official patches. The sixth article described an incident in which an employee at a samgyeopsal restaurant skimmed customer credit card data.
Seventh was a warning from US authorities regarding active exploitation of three vulnerabilities affecting Langflow, Tomcat, and another product. Eighth place reported security updates for Chrome that addressed six critical vulnerabilities.
Ninth on the list detailed a serious flaw in the backup management product Veeam ONE. The tenth article reported a data leak at Kodansha after an employee fell victim to a phishing attack, resulting in the exposure of contact information.
Related articles
Apple Releases iOS 27.2 and iPadOS 27.2, Patching 163 Vulnerabilities Including Exploited Flaws in Older Versions
Apple has issued security updates for iOS and iPadOS, addressing a wide range of vulnerabilities across current and legacy operating systems. The iOS 27.2 and iPadOS 27.2 releases fix 163 CVEs affecting WebKit, the kernel, and image processing components. Older branches received targeted patches, with iOS 26.7.2 resolving 134 issues and iOS 18.7.11 addressing three vulnerabilities that include an actively exploited flaw. Specific fixes cover remote code execution risks in WebKit and ImageIO, plus sandbox bypasses. The updates were published on October 26, 2026, and apply to both iPhone and iPad devices. Apple also published detailed security content advisories for each branch.
CISA Adds PHP2Shell Flaws CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619 to KEV Catalog After Confirmed Exploitation
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has confirmed active exploitation of two remotely exploitable vulnerabilities in PHP collectively known as PHP2Shell. CVE-2026-109618 stems from improper handling during memory exhaustion, while CVE-2026-109619 involves use-after-free issues in internal state management. Both flaws allow unauthenticated remote code execution and pose elevated risk to any PHP environment processing external requests such as web servers. PHP development teams released patches on October 21 for supported branches including PHP 8.5.12, 8.4.27, 8.3.36 and 8.2.35, along with source-level fixes for end-of-life versions 7.4, 8.0 and 8.1. CISA has set a three-day remediation deadline of October 29 for U.S. federal agencies and requires verification that systems have not been compromised.
Security Week 2644: Active Exploitation of PHP2Shell Vulnerabilities Confirmed
PHP developers released patches for two critical vulnerabilities collectively known as PHP2Shell on October 20, affecting PHP 8.2 through 8.5 as well as older branches. The flaws allow unauthenticated remote code execution on affected servers, which power approximately 70 percent of websites. Despite expectations of immediate exploitation, confirmed attacks with working exploits only began on October 25. CrowdStrike noted technical difficulties in weaponizing the issues in real-world environments. Only one-fifth of top Russian websites had applied the fixes by October 25. Additional incidents included compromised eMudhra certificates, a critical GitLab flaw, and a 16-year-old Broadcom router vulnerability.
Positive Technologies Offers Up to 500,000 Rubles for Bypassing PT Application Firewall
Positive Technologies has expanded its Standoff Bug Bounty program to include rewards for bypassing its web application firewalls. Researchers can earn between 150,000 and 500,000 rubles for demonstrating practical bypasses against PT Application Firewall PRO and PT Application Firewall Cloud. The program targets the core protective mechanisms, including traffic filtering, attack detection rules, and the management layer used by administrators. Submissions must include reproducible attack scenarios that show how malicious requests can pass through undetected, rather than relying on scanner reports or theoretical findings. Reward amounts vary by severity and confirmed business impact, with critical issues in the PRO version paying up to 500,000 rubles. The company plans to use validated findings to strengthen detection rules and improve overall product resilience.