On October 21, 2026, the PHP project released emergency fixes for two critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities in the PHP core runtime, tracked as CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619 and collectively named PHP2Shell. Both are rated 9.2 (Critical) under CVSS v4.0, and both allow an unauthenticated attacker to run code on a vulnerable server. The fixed releases are PHP 8.5.12, 8.4.27, 8.3.36, and 8.2.35. Patching is the only complete fix, and you should upgrade PHP as your first priority. But patching a fleet takes time: you need to inventory where PHP runs, schedule maintenance windows and test applications against the new builds. This post shows you how to use AWS Web Application Firewall ( AWS WAF ) to help reduce exposure to the confirmed attack paths during that window.…