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Global Websites at Risk as AI Uncovers Critical NGINX Vulnerability

Global Websites at Risk as AI Uncovers Critical NGINX Vulnerability

May 23, 2026
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Artificial intelligence has achieved a landmark breakthrough in cybersecurity. The AI-powered security analysis system developed by the startup depthfirst autonomously uncovered a critical vulnerability in NGINX that had remained hidden for 18 yearsCVE-2026-42945. This flaw, rated Critical (CVSS 9.2), impacts nearly one-third of websites globally, enabling attackers to perform remote code execution (RCE).

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Key Vulnerability Details

Exposure Period: The vulnerability went undetected since its introduction in 2008, a span of 18 years.

Affected Versions: NGINX versions from 0.6.27 to 1.30.0.

Vulnerability Mechanism: The flaw resides in the rewrite module, stemming from a defect in the script engine's two-phase processing mechanism, which leads to a heap buffer overflow.

Patched Version: An official patch has been released. It is recommended to upgrade to the open-source version 1.31.0 or 1.30.1, or the corresponding commercial NGINX Plus release.

The Power of AI-Powered Security Analysis

This vulnerability was discovered by the San Francisco-based AI lab depthfirst. The system's capabilities have drawn significant industry attention:

High Efficiency: During just 6 hours of autonomous scanning, the system identified five security issues, including CVE-2026-42945 (four of which have been officially confirmed as remote memory corruption vulnerabilities).

Deep Comprehension: Unlike traditional tools, this AI understands complex business logic and cross-module interactions, uncovering vulnerabilities that even leading AI security tools had missed.

Data indicates approximately 19 million exposed NGINX instances are vulnerable. The United States (roughly 53.4 million affected instances, including historical data) and China (about 25.4 million) show the highest exposure levels. With the proof-of-concept (PoC) code now public, the security risk is severe. All enterprises and developers using NGINX are urged to immediately review their configuration files (particularly in scenarios using both rewrite and set directives) and complete version updates as soon as possible.

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