CVE-2026-48172
KEV EPSS 1.2%NVD confirms wild exploitation, vendor patched, detection methods public; no KEV listing yet limits score.
What: Privilege escalation to root in LiteSpeed User-End cPanel Plugin before 2.4.5 via mishandled Redis enable/disable function; affects cPanel users on vulnerable versions.
Why it matters: NVD explicitly states "exploited in the wild in May 2026"; social chatter corroborates active attacks. No CVSS official score in metadata, but posts cite "10.0" (unverified). Vendor has patched (2.4.5 released). Detection command provided in advisory. Not yet KEV-listed, but recent exploitation and patch urgency signal real-world weaponization.
Where it's seen: Security news outlets and threat intel accounts reporting "active exploit" and "root access"; defenders discussing detection via grep patterns on cPanel logs; vendor remediation guidance circulating.
RISK: CRITICAL — In-the-wild exploitation of privilege escalation to root, recent patch available, detection guidance issued.
Description
LiteSpeed User-End cPanel Plugin before 2.4.5 allows privilege escalation (possibly to root), as exploited in the wild in May 2026. LiteSpeed WHM Plugin (the parent plugin) is unaffected. 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.