LiteSpeed cPanel Plugin Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
LiteSpeed Technologies — cPanel Plugin
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.
9.8
18.9%
Vector breakdown
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Published
- May 21, 2026
- Modified
- Jul 23, 2026
- Added to KEV
- May 26, 2026
- Federal patch due
- May 29, 2026
CISA required action
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Weakness classification
Affected packages
Proof-of-concept & exploitation references
3 foundWeaponization
Public repositories whose name or description references CVE-2026-48172, found via a live GitHub search at request time. These are community-sourced signals, not a verified working exploit - cross-check each one before relying on it, and treat higher star counts and recent activity as (weak) corroboration, not proof.
- HORKimhab/CVE-2026-48172★ 2
CVE-2026-48172
updated Aug 21, 2026
- retmakarunia/CVE-2026-48172★ 0
cPanel user run arbitrary scripts as root
updated May 24, 2026
- fevar54/CVE-2026-48172---LiteSpeed-cPanel-Plugin-Version-Auditor★ 0
Auditor de version para CVE-2026-48172: verifica localmente si el plugin LiteSpeed de cPanel es vulnerable, sin explotar.
updated Aug 25, 2026
References
Frequently asked questions
What is CVE-2026-48172?
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.
How severe is CVE-2026-48172?
CVE-2026-48172 has a CVSS base score of 9.8 out of 10 (CVSS 3.1).
Is CVE-2026-48172 actively exploited in the wild?
Yes. CVE-2026-48172 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, added May 26, 2026, meaning CISA has confirmed evidence of active exploitation.
What is the EPSS score for CVE-2026-48172?
18.9% - meaning FIRST.org's EPSS model estimates a 18.9% probability this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within 30 days (97% percentile among all scored CVEs).
Is there exploit tooling available for CVE-2026-48172?
We found 3 public GitHub repositories referencing CVE-2026-48172, though none matched a known Nuclei template or Metasploit module at last check. Review each one before relying on it - see the proof-of-concept section above.
What type of vulnerability is CVE-2026-48172?
CVE-2026-48172 is classified under CWE-266 (CWE-266 Incorrect Privilege Assignment).
Cross-checked against
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