CVE-2026-48172
LiteSpeed User-End cPanel Plugin before 2.4.5 allows privilege escalation (possibly to root), as...
LiteSpeed User-End cPanel Plugin before 2.4.5 allows privilege escalation (possibly to root), as exploited in the wild in May 2026. Detection is best done via a command line of grep -rE "cpanel_jsonapi_func=redisAble" /var/cpanel/logs /usr/local/cpanel/logs/ 2>/dev/null in Bash. If you get no output, you have not been hit with exploitation of the vulnerability. If there is output, we recommend you examine the IP addresses in the list, determine if they are valid IP addresses, and if not, block them. To determine damage done, examine the system logs for use by the detected IP addresses. The issue is related to mishandling of Redis enable/disable features. The recommended minimum version is 2.4.7.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
10.0
LiteSpeed User-End cPanel Plugin before 2.4.5 allows privilege escalation (possibly to root), as exploited in the wild in May 2026. Detection is best done via a command line of grep -rE "cpanel_jsonapi_func=redisAble" /var/cpanel/logs /usr/local/cpanel/logs/ 2>/dev/null in Bash. If you get no output, you have not been hit with exploitation of the vulnerability. If there is output, we recommend you examine the IP addresses in the list, determine if they are valid IP addresses, and if not, block them. To determine damage done, examine the system logs for use by the detected IP addresses. The issue is related to mishandling of Redis enable/disable features. The recommended minimum version is 2.4.7.
- Record
CVE-2026-48172- CVSS 4.0
- 10.0 Critical
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H - Weakness
- CWE-266
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2026-31204
10.0
LiteSpeed User-End cPanel Plugin before 2.4.5 allows privilege escalation (possibly to root), as exploited in the wild in May 2026. Detection is best done via a command line of grep -rE "cpanel_jsonapi_func=redisAble" /var/cpanel/logs /usr/local/cpanel/logs/ 2>/dev/null in Bash. If you get no output, you have not been hit with exploitation of the vulnerability. If there is output, we recommend you examine the IP addresses in the list, determine if they are valid IP addresses, and if not, block them. To determine damage done, examine the system logs for use by the detected IP addresses. The issue is related to mishandling of Redis enable/disable features. The recommended minimum version is 2.4.7.
- Record
EUVD-2026-31204- CVSS 4.0
- 10.0 Critical
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-fxrh-cwjh-m33v
10.0
LiteSpeed User-End cPanel Plugin before 2.4.5 allows privilege escalation (possibly to root), as...
LiteSpeed User-End cPanel Plugin before 2.4.5 allows privilege escalation (possibly to root), as exploited in the wild in May 2026. LiteSpeed WHM Plugin (the parent plugin) is unaffected. Detection is best done via a command line of grep -rE "cpanel_jsonapi_func=redisAble" /var/cpanel/logs /usr/local/cpanel/logs/ 2>/dev/null in Bash. If you get no output, you have not been hit with exploitation of the vulnerability. If there is output, we recommend you examine the IP addresses in the list, determine if they are valid IP addresses, and if not, block them. To determine damage done, examine the system logs for use by the detected IP addresses. The issue is related to mishandling of Redis enable/disable features.
- Record
GHSA-fxrh-cwjh-m33v- CVSS 4.0
- 10.0 Critical
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X - CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-266
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CISA KEV No score
LiteSpeed cPanel Plugin Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
LiteSpeed cPanel Plugin contains privilege escalation vulnerability that is exposed via the user-end cPanel plugin, which can be abused by any cPanel user account to execute arbitrary scripts with root privileges.
- Record
CVE-2026-48172- Weakness
- CWE-266
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
10.0
LiteSpeed User-End cPanel Plugin before 2.4.5 allows privilege escalation (possibly to root), as exploited in the wild in May 2026. Detection is best done via a command line of grep -rE "cpanel_jsonapi_func=redisAble" /var/cpanel/logs /usr/local/cpanel/logs/ 2>/dev/null in Bash. If you get no output, you have not been hit with exploitation of the vulnerability. If there is output, we recommend you examine the IP addresses in the list, determine if they are valid IP addresses, and if not, block them. To determine damage done, examine the system logs for use by the detected IP addresses. The issue is related to mishandling of Redis enable/disable features. The recommended minimum version is 2.4.7.
- Record
CVE-2026-48172- CVSS 4.0
- 10.0 Critical
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X - CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-266
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Public exploits
Links only. Every CVE stores no exploit code.
| Source | Link | Date |
|---|---|---|
| PoC in GitHub | HORKimhab/CVE-2026-48172 | 2026-05-23 |
| PoC in GitHub | retmakarunia/CVE-2026-48172 | 2026-05-23 |
| PoC in GitHub | fevar54/CVE-2026-48172---LiteSpeed-cPanel-Plugin-Version-Auditor | 2026-05-28 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| exploitation, exploits | ||
| first indexed | CVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, CISA KEV, NVD, PoC in GitHub |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2026-48172 is a critical vulnerability (CVSS 10.0) in Litespeed Cpanel Plugin, published May 21, 2026. CISA lists it as known to be exploited, since May 26, 2026. EUVD reports exploitation since May 26, 2026. Public exploit code exists. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 17.9%, the 97th percentile. No source names a fixed version.
References
litespeedtech.com/products/litespeed-web-server/control-panel-support/cpanel
litespeedtech.com/products/litespeed-web-server/control-panel-support/release-log
blog.litespeedtech.com/2026/05/21/security-update-for-litespeed-cpanel-plugin
cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-48172
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-48172
github.com/advisories/GHSA-fxrh-cwjh-m33v