CVE-2026-48172: LiteSpeed cPanel Plugin Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Should you act?

Exploited: patch now if you run it

CISA has confirmed exploitation in the wild. This signal is computed from CISA KEV, EPSS and CVSS data; it is not an editorial verdict.

• Yes, if you run LiteSpeed cPanel Plugin. CISA added this CVE to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2026-05-26, which means there is reliable evidence of exploitation in the wild. US federal agencies must remediate by 2026-05-29; treat that as the outer limit, not the target.
• EPSS 1.0%, percentile 63: FIRST’s model estimates a 1.0% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 63% of all scored CVEs (moderate). EPSS is a probability, not a verdict.
• Remotely reachable with no login and no user interaction. If the vulnerable service is exposed to the internet, prioritize it.

What it is

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 "cpaneljsonapifunc=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.

CISA’s summary

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.

Weakness type: CWE-266.

Product: LiteSpeed cPanel Plugin · Assigned by: mitre · Published: 2026-05-21

Affected and fixed versions

Severity scores

• Attack vector: network (remotely reachable)
• Attack complexity: low
• Attack requirements: none
• Privileges required: none (no login)
• User interaction: none

CVSS measures how bad a flaw is if exploited, not how likely exploitation is. Read it next to the exploitation data below.

Exploitation and urgency

• CISA KEV: added 2026-05-26; federal due date 2026-05-29. Known ransomware use: Unknown.
• 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.
• CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation active, automatable yes, technical impact total.
• FIRST EPSS (model of 2026-10-21): 1.01% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 63.

Timeline

• 2026-05-21 — CVE record published by mitre
• 2026-05-26 — Added to CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
• 2026-05-29 — CISA remediation deadline for US federal agencies
• 2026-10-07 — CVE record last updated

Sources and references

Original sources first. Version and fix details should always be confirmed against the vendor or project advisory.

Vendor and project advisories, patches

1. Listed in CISA KEV notes (blog.litespeedtech.com) blog.litespeedtech.com

Vulnerability records

1. CVE.org record CVE-2026-48172 cve.org
2. NVD entry CVE-2026-48172 nvd.nist.gov

Government

1. CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog entry cisa.gov

Other references from the CVE record and advisory

1. litespeedtech.com litespeedtech.com
2. litespeedtech.com litespeedtech.com

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