---
title: "CVE-2026-48172: LiteSpeed cPanel Plugin Privilege Escalation Vulnerability"
url: https://erroneo.us/security/cve/CVE-2026-48172/
description: "CVE-2026-48172 (LiteSpeed cPanel Plugin): Exploited in the wild (CISA KEV). LiteSpeed User-End cPanel Plugin before 2.4.5 allows privilege escalation…"
type: vulnerability-record
section: "Security Digest"
date_published: 2026-05-21
date_modified: 2026-10-07
publisher: erroneo.us
author: erroneo.us Security Desk
cve: "CVE-2026-48172"
kev: true
cvss: 10
epss: 0.01011
license: All rights reserved. Quote with attribution and a link.
---

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

**Signal:** Exploited: patch now if you run it. CISA has confirmed exploitation in the wild. (Computed from CISA KEV, EPSS and CVSS; not an editorial verdict.)

## Should you act?

- 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.

## Affected products (CVE record)

- LiteSpeed Technologies cPanel Plugin: 2.3 < 2.4.7
- LiteSpeed Technologies WHM Plugin: < 5.3.1.0

## Severity

- mitre CVSS 4.0: 10 `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`

## Exploitation

- 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.

## Sources

- [Listed in CISA KEV notes (blog.litespeedtech.com)](https://blog.litespeedtech.com/2026/05/21/security-update-for-litespeed-cpanel-plugin/)
- [CVE.org record CVE-2026-48172](https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-48172)
- [NVD entry CVE-2026-48172](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-48172)
- [CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog entry](https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-48172)
- [litespeedtech.com](https://www.litespeedtech.com/products/litespeed-web-server/control-panel-support/cpanel)
- [litespeedtech.com](https://www.litespeedtech.com/products/litespeed-web-server/control-panel-support/release-log)

---
Source page: https://erroneo.us/security/cve/CVE-2026-48172/ · Security Digest: https://erroneo.us/security/ · More: https://erroneo.us/llms.txt