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


- **Severity:** Critical 10.0 (`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`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Yes, since 26 May 2026 (CISA KEV)
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 21 May 2026
- **Updated:** 7 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-fxrh-cwjh-m33v

## What is CVE-2026-48172?

CVE-2026-48172 is a critical vulnerability in LiteSpeed Technologies WHM Plugin, published on 21 May 2026. 

### Official 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.

Weakness: CWE-266 (Incorrect Privilege Assignment)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-48172?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Litespeedtech Litespeed Cpanel Plugin, Litespeedtech Litespeed Whm Plugin.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-48172?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-48172 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available. US federal agencies must fix it by 29 May 2026.

## Is CVE-2026-48172 being exploited?

Yes. Attackers have exploited CVE-2026-48172 in the wild since at least 26 May 2026.

Public exploit code:

- CVE-2026-48172 (github_poc): https://github.com/HORKimhab/CVE-2026-48172
- cPanel user run arbitrary scripts as root (github_poc): https://github.com/retmakarunia/CVE-2026-48172
- Auditor de version para CVE-2026-48172: verifica localmente si el plugin LiteSpeed de cPanel es vulnerable, sin explotar. (github_poc): https://github.com/fevar54/CVE-2026-48172---LiteSpeed-cPanel-Plugin-Version-Auditor

## Other vulnerabilities in LiteSpeed Technologies WHM Plugin

- [CVE-2026-54420](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-54420/): LiteSpeed cPanel Plugin UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following (high 8.5, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-48172 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-48172 is a critical vulnerability in LiteSpeed Technologies WHM Plugin, published on 21 May 2026. 
Exploitation: Yes. Attackers have exploited CVE-2026-48172 in the wild since at least 26 May 2026.

Affected product: LiteSpeed Technologies WHM Plugin. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-48172/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-48172/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-48172
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-48172
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-48172

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-48172/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.