They didn’t move fast enough on it and others began circulating it. So they had to play catch up, hence the need to react before they had a patch.

We won’t pretend otherwise: the delay was a structural failure, caused by both the security team’s decision process and its lack of resources. The security team has since started changing its processes, and that work continues, so that decisions can be made by majority and compromises are encouraged.

https://thephp.foundation/blog/2026/10/21/todays-php-security-release-and-how-were-strengthening-php-security/