Over the next few weeks, we’ll be updating the MariaDB (MySQL) database server software on all our servers from the MariaDB 10.11 series to the MariaDB 11.8 series.
The MariaDB/MySQL database stores pages for WordPress and other sites that are run by scripts. Customers should not notice any difference after this change; we’re upgrading to a more recent version simply to make sure it’s as fast, reliable and secure as possible.
We’ve been using the new version on internal and test servers for some time, and we’ve also verified that each database on our servers can be successfully loaded onto the new version without errors (we do this by exporting each database from the old version into the new version on a test server).
We upgrade a small percentage of servers each day. At the moment MariaDB is updated on a server, WordPress and other database-backed sites on that server will have 30-40 seconds of unavoidable “downtime”. To minimize the impact of that, we perform these upgrades only between 9 PM and midnight Pacific time (midnight-3 AM Eastern time, 0400-0700 UTC).
Beyond that one-time brief interruption in service, customers should not notice any difference to how their site works, as we said. But as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any trouble or questions.
The PHP developers recently released versions 8.2.33, 8.3.33 and 8.4.25 that fix several bugs. We’ve upgraded these PHP versions on our servers as a result.
Customers should not notice any other changes, but as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any trouble.
The PHP developers recently released versions 8.2.32, 8.3.32 and 8.4.23 that fix several bugs. We’ve upgraded these PHP versions on our servers as a result.
Customers should not notice any other changes, but as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any trouble.
The PHP developers recently released versions 8.2.31, 8.3.31 and 8.4.21 that fix several bugs. We’ve upgraded these PHP versions on our servers as a result.
Customers should not notice any other changes, but as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any trouble.
Customers have asked us whether our servers are vulnerable to the recent serious security bug in the cPanel software, and to CVE-2026-31431 (nicknamed “Copy Fail”) and “Dirty Frag”, in the Linux kernel. All of these bugs could allow ”hackers” to modify websites.
The good news is that your site on our servers is safe from all three. We don’t use cPanel branded software at all, and we don’t use a vulnerable versions of the kernel software on our servers. We’ve verified in multiple ways that our servers are not vulnerable to either problem.
(Edit May 8: Updated to include information about new “Dirty Frag” exploit.)
The PHP developers recently released versions 8.1.34, 8.2.30, 8.3.30 and 8.4.17 that fix several bugs. We’ve upgraded these PHP versions on our servers as a result.
Note that these latest versions of PHP are incompatible with old versions of the WordFence security plugin that some people use on their WordPress site (old versions of Wordfence can cause errors with Google Search indexing and some other requests). If you’re using an older version of Wordfence together with one of these PHP versions, we’ve automatically updated Wordfence to the fixed version 8.1.4 for you to avoid problems. (We recommend turning on automatic updates for all WordPress plugins to avoid issues like this.)
Customers should not notice any other changes, but as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any trouble.
The PHP developers recently released versions 8.3.28 and 8.4.15 that fix several bugs. We’ve upgraded the PHP 8.3 and 8.4 series on our servers as a result.
Customers should not notice any changes, but as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any trouble.
The PHP developers recently released versions 8.3.26 and 8.4.13 that fix several bugs. We’ve upgraded the PHP 8.3 and 8.4 series on our servers as a result.
Customers should not notice any changes, but as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any trouble.
The PHP developers recently released versions 8.3.24 and 8.4.11 that fix several bugs. We’ve upgraded the PHP 8.3 and 8.4 series on our servers as a result.
Customers should not notice any changes, but as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any trouble.
The PHP developers recently released versions 8.1.33, 8.2.29, 8.3.23, and 8.4.10 that fix several bugs, including security issues. We’ve upgraded the PHP 8.1, 8.2, 8.3 and 8.4 series on our servers as a result.
In addition, WordPress is now “fully compatible” with PHP 8.3, so we’ve made PHP 8.3 the default for new accounts on our systems. We recommend that version for customers who keep their scripts updated. This page explains how to switch PHP versions.
Customers shouldn’t notice any changes, but as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any trouble.
