Vendor Service Outage: Canvas

Incident Report for Washington University - IT

Resolved

WashU IT has concluded the major incident for Canvas. Technical teams will continue to monitor the environment for technical and security concerns, and may continue to perform updates or configuration changes as needed in conjunction with the Canvas vendor. If you continue to experience further issues, please contact us at 314-933-3333.

We appreciate your patience during this incident.
Posted May 08, 2026 - 17:06 CDT

Update

WashU IT technical teams are continuing to monitor the Canvas service to ensure normal operations. If you continue to experience further issues, please contact us at 314-933-3333.

We appreciate your patience during this incident.

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Previous update:

On May 7 an unauthorized actor made changes to the Canvas service and to the pages which appear when some individuals log into Canvas. Instructure placed Canvas into maintenance mode to prevent further unauthorized access. Instructure worked with independent forensics partners and found no evidence that the unauthorized actor obtained credentials for WashU accounts. We continue to work with Instructure to monitor the situation.

In an abundance of caution, we recommend individuals monitor their accounts for any suspicious activity and Faculty members have been advised to download all gradebooks.

Please visit the Instructure Security Incident Update and FAQ's (https://www.instructure.com/incident_update) for more information.
Posted May 08, 2026 - 14:14 CDT

Update

WashU IT has restored Canvas access.

On May 7 an unauthorized actor made changes to the Canvas service and to the pages which appear when some individuals log into Canvas. Instructure placed Canvas into maintenance mode to prevent further unauthorized access. Instructure worked with independent forensics partners and found no evidence that the unauthorized actor obtained credentials for WashU accounts. We continue to work with Instructure to monitor the situation.

In an abundance of caution, we recommend individuals monitor their accounts for any suspicious activity and Faculty members have been advised to download all gradebooks.

Please visit the Instructure Security Incident Update and FAQ's (https://www.instructure.com/incident_update) for more information.

If you experience issues, please email or call us at ithelp@wustl.edu or 314-933-3333.
We appreciate your patience as we ensured the security of the service.
Posted May 08, 2026 - 10:12 CDT

Monitoring

WashU IT has confirmed that Canvas services are being restored. Out of an abundance of caution, WashU will temporarily disable user access to Canvas. Additional information will be communicated on Friday 5/8 ~9:30am.

Please call 314-933-3333 if you have any questions. We appreciate your patience as we work to restore service.
Posted May 07, 2026 - 22:37 CDT

Update

WashU IT is investigating reports that Canvas is unavailable. Canvas vendor Instructure has posted a notification on their Status Page that they are experiencing a service outage. Additional details are available here: https://status.instructure.com/. Our next update will be on Friday 5/8 ~9am or when the vendor provides an updated status.

Teams are working to resolve the issue. Please call 314-933-3333 if you have any questions. We appreciate your patience as we work to restore service.
Posted May 07, 2026 - 18:01 CDT

Investigating

WashU IT is investigating reports that Canvas is unavailable. Canvas vendor Instructure has posted a notification on their Status Page that they are experiencing a service outage. Additional details are available here: https://status.instructure.com/

Teams are working to resolve the issue. Please call 314-933-3333 if you have any questions. We appreciate your patience as we work to restore service.
Posted May 07, 2026 - 15:48 CDT
This incident affected: Teaching & Learning (Canvas).