Cloudflare shares jump as emergency PHP patches drive demand for its firewall services

PHP released emergency patches for two critical remote‑code‑execution flaws that affect roughly 70% of websites. Cloudflare deployed firewall rules for all customers, including the free tier, and its stock rose about 6% to $307.79. Other security‑focused companies such as Datadog also saw gains. The vulnerabilities were discovered by OpenAI and Wiz Research and were publicly disclosed a day before the coordinated embargo, prompting governments to take precautionary actions.

The incident highlights the immediate revenue upside for Cloudflare as enterprises and governments may increase spending on its Web Application Firewall, especially if the flaw is added to the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list. Analysts note that Cloudflare’s revenue is projected to increase from $2.17 billion in 2025 to $4.73 billion in 2028, suggesting a strong growth trajectory if customers convert to paid plans.

  • 1The PHP flaws, identified as CVE‑2026‑109618 and CVE‑2026‑109619, affect any web server running PHP 5.4 or later, covering an estimated 70% of all websites.
  • 2Cloudflare stock traded at $307.79, up $16.10 (5.52%) after the patches were released.
  • 3Datadog shares increased 7% on the same day.
  • 4OpenAI’s GPT‑5.6 Sol model independently discovered CVE‑2026‑109618 in August 2026.
  • 5Governments in the Netherlands, Finland, Australia, Japan and Britain urged immediate updates or took sites offline.
  • 6Analysts project Cloudflare revenue to rise from $2.17 billion in 2025 to $4.73 billion in 2028.

Sources