Most people may not have heard of PHP, but they probably interact with it daily.

Short for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, it powers a vast number of platforms, including online shops, Wikipedia and WordPress – the content management system behind many websites like blogs.

When you visit a website like Wikipedia, PHP is the code that collects information you need and presents it in a way you can read on the web, Paul Spain, chief executive of Gorilla Cyber Security, told the BBC.

But due to a flaw that could allow attackers to take control of affected web servers without authentication and steal sensitive data, everything built on PHP was left exposed.

AI could make such attacks easier and faster, Spain said, estimating that the flaw could affect “millions and millions” of websites.

It would be “disastrous” if hackers or countries weaponised the flaw and seized private data from websites, said cyber-security researcher Jill Slay from the University of Adelaide.