Cloudflare Outage Disrupts Major Online Services
A configuration error at Cloudflare led to a global outage affecting platforms like X and ChatGPT.
On November 18, 2025, Cloudflare experienced a significant global outage that disrupted numerous online services, including X (formerly Twitter), ChatGPT, Canva, and League of Legends. The incident began around 11:20 UTC and was resolved by 17:06 UTC.
The outage was traced to an internal configuration error. A change in database permissions led to the generation of a 'feature file' used by Cloudflare's Bot Management system, which unexpectedly doubled in size. This oversized file exceeded the software's size limit, causing system failures across the network.
Cloudflare's Chief Technology Officer, Dane Knecht, acknowledged the disruption, stating, 'We failed our customers and the broader internet.' He emphasized that the issue was not the result of an external attack but an internal technical failure.
The company has since implemented measures to prevent similar incidents, including hardening the ingestion of configuration files and reviewing failure modes across core proxy modules.
Source
Ars TechnicaFirst reported
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