Cloudflare resolves major global outage after network bug disrupts internet services worldwide

Web Desk (MNN): Cloudflare, the global content delivery network (CDN) and DNS service provider, announced on Tuesday that it had fixed the issue behind a worldwide outage that disrupted access to numerous web services.

In an update posted at 7:42pm, the company confirmed that the fix had been implemented and services were returning to normal. It added that monitoring was continuing to ensure full stability. Cloudflare later said that some users were still experiencing problems logging into or using the Cloudflare dashboard, and that further improvements were underway.

Chief Technology Officer Dane Knecht wrote on X that Cloudflare had “failed our customers and the broader internet” when a fault in its network disrupted a large volume of global traffic. He explained that a latent bug in a system supporting Cloudflare’s bot mitigation service began crashing after a routine configuration change. The firm earlier reported a spike in unusual traffic to one of its services.

Tuesday’s outage is the latest in a series of global internet disruptions. Just last month, a breakdown at Amazon’s cloud service caused thousands of major websites and apps — including Snapchat and Reddit — to go offline.

Cloudflare, which runs one of the world’s largest networks designed to speed up and secure websites, saw its shares drop about five percent in premarket trading. The company provides protection against high traffic loads and cyberattacks, helping websites and apps stay online.

Widespread connectivity issues were reported earlier in the day as Cloudflare confirmed problems across its global network. In a 6:09pm update, it said that Access and WARP services had been restored to pre-incident levels in some regions, including London. Work was ongoing to restore additional application services.

The company earlier acknowledged “widespread 500 errors” affecting multiple customers, Cloudflare dashboard failures, and API disruptions. NetBlocks, the global internet monitor, also confirmed significant disturbances linked to Cloudflare’s infrastructure, clarifying that the incident was not related to internet filtering at a national level.

Downdetector logs showed that users in Pakistan reported issues with Cloudflare starting around 4:10pm. Problems were also reported with OpenAI, Amazon Web Services, Facebook, and the social media platform X — which itself saw more than 11,500 outage reports globally.

It remains unclear whether the disruptions were interconnected. Both Cloudflare and X did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said it was monitoring the global situation and was in contact with international platforms and local operators until full restoration.

Cloudflare had previously suffered a major global outage in June 2022 that took numerous popular websites offline.

A DNS server functions like an address book, translating a website’s name into its numerical IP address. For large-scale national usage, DNS servers must support high volumes of traffic and respond rapidly.