Cloudflare explains outage that took down much of the internet
Cause of the global Cloudflare outage revealed
- Cloudflare revealed that a single faulty file was responsible for a widespread internet outage that affected major websites such as ChatGPT and X.
- The incident stemmed from a 'feature file' that rapidly doubled in size due to an internal system change, exceeding its intended limits.
- This oversized file caused the software on Cloudflare's network machines to fail, leading to the disruption of numerous seemingly unconnected websites.
- Cloudflare initially suspected a cyber attack but later identified the problem as an internal technical error within its systems.
- The issue was fully resolved approximately six hours after it began, with Cloudflare's CEO, Matthew Prince, issuing an apology for the significant impact.