CVE-2026-48172

Published May 21, 2026

Last updated 18 days ago

Exploit known CVSS critical 10.0

cPanel

Cloud

LiteSpeed User-End cPanel Plugin

LiteSpeed

Overview

AI description

Automated description summarized from trusted sources.

CVE-2026-48172 is a privilege escalation vulnerability found in the LiteSpeed User-End cPanel Plugin, affecting versions between 2.3 and 2.4.4. This flaw stems from an incorrect privilege assignment and a logic error within the plugin's `lsws.redisAble` JSON-API endpoint. The vulnerability allows any authenticated cPanel user, including those with low privileges or compromised accounts, to execute arbitrary scripts with root permissions, potentially leading to full server control. This vulnerability has been actively exploited in the wild. A patch was released in version 2.4.5 of the LiteSpeed User-End cPanel Plugin, with further updates in version 2.4.7, which is bundled with WHM plugin version 5.3.1.0. Detection of potential exploitation can be performed by searching cPanel logs for the string "cpanel_jsonapi_func=redisAble".

Description: 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.
Source: cve@mitre.org
NVD status: Analyzed
Products: litespeed_cpanel_plugin, litespeed_whm_plugin

Risk scores

CVSS 4.0

Type: Secondary
Base score: 10
Impact score: -
Exploitability score: -
Vector string: 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
Severity: CRITICAL

CVSS 3.1

Type: Primary
Base score: 9.8
Impact score: 5.9
Exploitability score: 3.9
Vector string: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Severity: CRITICAL

Known exploits

Data from CISA

Vulnerability name: LiteSpeed cPanel Plugin Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
Exploit added on: May 26, 2026
Exploit action due: May 29, 2026
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.

Weaknesses

cve@mitre.org: CWE-266

Hype score: Not currently trending

Configurations

[
  {
    "nodes": [
      {
        "cpeMatch": [
          {
            "criteria": "cpe:2.3:a:litespeedtech:litespeed_cpanel_plugin:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
            "matchCriteriaId": "B64A4D51-C0C2-4925-A49C-97E7CD8CAABD",
            "versionEndExcluding": "2.4.7",
            "vulnerable": true
          },
          {
            "criteria": "cpe:2.3:a:litespeedtech:litespeed_whm_plugin:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
            "matchCriteriaId": "6CBC6C6D-C562-4EB5-A2A0-BE07F716B8AF",
            "versionEndExcluding": "5.3.1.0",
            "vulnerable": true
          }
        ],
        "negate": false,
        "operator": "OR"
      }
    ]
  }
]

References

Sources include official advisories and independent security research.