Letschat needs an upgrade

[klondike]

A serious PHP vulnerability has been found that impacts all versions of PHP that have been in use for years and years.

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/news/critical-security-issue-affecting-php

This is only being patched in the latest version of PHP. The forum is running on an Amazon Lightsail server with an outdated version of PHP. This means I need to set up a new server once Amazon have upgraded their instances. I imagine this will be soon but until they have there is nothing I can do to fix this.

About three quarters of the internet runs on PHP so hackers will be active but hopefully not bothering with small beer like us. If we do get hit you may see errors or the server may go down completely. I take daily backups so should be able to restore the forum and get going with just the loss of some posts unless the server itself gets impacted.

Setting up a new server once Amazon have fixed new instances will take me a while too.

[Mups]

Klondie, first of all,  thank you for warning us.

When you say we might see 'errors',   can you explain (simply please),  what sort of errors to look for?
And secondly,   if it did happen,  what's best to do about it?

Thanks.

P.S.  Sorry,  just thought,  is the forum going to be closed while you do the necessary work?

[klondike]

No idea what errors but if you can't get in or read or post stuff then that is certainly one. The problem is a vulnerability that allows hackers to gain access to the server and create mischief. I imagine that right now huge numbers of sites are vulnerable and many will remain so for a long time to come.

I won't close it because it will likely take a long time to set up and migrate to a patched server and the current one cannot be patched.