CVE-2026-48172
LiteSpeed cPanel Plugin Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
LiteSpeed 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.
Exploitation status
CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities
Listed by CISA on 26 May 2026. US federal agencies were required to remediate it by 29 May 2026.
EPSS — exploitation probability
FIRST puts the probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days at 17.9%, which is higher than 97.2% of all scored vulnerabilities. EPSS is a forecast of activity, not a measure of severity, and it is rescored daily.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Frequently asked questions
Is CVE-2026-48172 being exploited by ransomware groups?
No ransomware group in this database is currently recorded as exploiting CVE-2026-48172.
What does CVE-2026-48172 affect?
CVE-2026-48172 affects LiteSpeed 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.
How severe is CVE-2026-48172?
CVE-2026-48172 is rated CRITICAL with a CVSS base score of 9.8. EPSS puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 17.9%, higher than 97.2% of all scored vulnerabilities. It is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, with a federal remediation deadline of 29 May 2026.
How should organisations respond to CVE-2026-48172?
Apply the vendor patch for LiteSpeed cPanel Plugin as the first priority, and treat any internet-facing instance as the most urgent. Because this vulnerability is associated with ransomware activity, also review whether the affected systems were reachable before patching, rather than assuming that patching alone closes the incident.