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Fact · discovery · reported

The flaws were found by researchers using frontier AI under OpenAI's Patch the Planet initiative

Who says it: BBC; OpenAI; Calif; Wiz · Sources: BBC News OpenAI on X Calif Wiz

All three research parties say AI was used. Calif: 'No special harness, or access to models that weren't generally available to everyone were used'. Calif does not name a model; Wiz names Gemini 4 Argon, GPT-5.6 Sol and Wiz Atlas; OpenAI's blog reportedly names GPT-5.6 Sol but is blocked.

Fact-check

A3 Echoed opinion measures differently · Opinion · verdict: holds in part

That AI was used is said by each research party in its own capture (Calif, Wiz, OpenAI), but 'found by researchers using frontier AI under Patch the Planet' is a reading: Calif is the only finder shown to be under Patch the Planet, Calif never says 'frontier' and stresses generally available models, and Wiz never mentions Patch the Planet. Readings cap at A3.

Capture checkedResultWhat it sayssha256 of the text read
calif-php2shellpartialOpenAI invited us to join its Patch the Planet initiative, and PHP stood out as a high-impact target.23afef81971778f9
wiz-blog-php2shellpartialwe explain how frontier AI helped us find and fix vulnerabilities that had remained hidden in the PHP codebasee3568b6f88c93f6b
x-openai-php2shellcarriesPatch the Planet: global response coordination as agents uncover critical vulnerabilities785b7cae55e3748b
bbc-live-ckgel5xp2xv9tpartialThe vulnerabilities were found by researchers at the security firms Calif and Wiz.c88b8c5f4c6bc07d
php-foundation-blog-security-releasepartialWhile fixing one of the issues Quarkslab reported, a PHP core developer contracted by the PHP Foundation found the first signs of the OOM problema1be057adc1c5bfa

Open tickets: Finding-1, Finding-59.

Graded in Run-1, resting on captures up to 2026-10-22 08:16 UTC. The scale is on the fact-check page.

This fact over time

  1. 2026-10-21Calif publishes php2shell by Calif Research — A tale of two PHP remote vulnerabilities
  2. 2026-10-21Wiz publishes PHP2Shell: AI uncovers critical RCE vulnerabilities affecting 70% of the Internet
  3. 2026-10-21 14:04 UTCOpenAI on X publishes OpenAI on X: OpenAI models helped researchers ... discover critical security flaws in PHP
  4. 2026-10-22 06:16 UTCBBC News publishes PHP: Global scramble to fix critical cyber-security flaws as many websites taken offline - follow live
  5. 2026-10-22 08:04 UTCSaved into the evidence vault: BBC News, then 2 more captures
  6. 2026-10-22 08:10 UTCSaved into the evidence vault: Calif
  7. 2026-10-22 08:10 UTCSaved into the evidence vault: Wiz
  8. 2026-10-22 08:16 UTCSaved into the evidence vault: OpenAI on X
  9. 2026-10-22Enters this site as reported in v0.1.0 (reconstructed from git)

Published: when the source says it was published. Saved: the first capture into the evidence vault. The rest are this site: the release in which the fact first appeared and every release that changed its wording, sources or status.

What it rests on

PHP: Global scramble to fix critical cyber-security flaws …OpenAI on X: OpenAI models helped researchers ... discover…php2shell by Calif Research — A tale of two PHP remote vul…PHP2Shell: AI uncovers critical RCE vulnerabilities affect…fact ai-found

Where this fact appears

In the briefings for:

And on every claim.

Every version of this fact

v1 · site v0.1.0 · 22 October 2026 · reported
The flaws were found by researchers using frontier AI under OpenAI's Patch the Planet initiative
Who says it: BBC; OpenAI; Calif; Wiz
Status: reported
Topic: discovery
Sources: bbc-live-ckgel5xp2xv9t, x-openai-php2shell, calif-php2shell, wiz-blog-php2shell