Privilege escalation in Litespeedtech Litespeed Cpanel Plugin
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.
EPSS: 0.189 (97.1th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
Affected products
Weakness classification (CWE)
CISA KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities)
This CVE is on the CISA KEV catalog, added on . CISA KEV inclusion means CISA has confirmed in-the-wild exploitation; US federal agencies are required to remediate within a published due date.
BOD 22-01 due date: .
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.
Public proof-of-concept exploits
References
- cve@mitre.org (Product)
- cve@mitre.org (Release Notes)
- cve@mitre.org (Vendor Advisory)
- 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 (US Government Resource)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-48172?
- CVE-2026-48172 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Litespeedtech Litespeed Cpanel Plugin, classified under Incorrect Privilege Assignment. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-05-21.
- How severe is CVE-2026-48172?
- Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
- Is CVE-2026-48172 known to be exploited?
- Yes. CVE-2026-48172 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2026-05-26), indicating it is being actively exploited. 3 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.