CISA Urges Immediate Patching of Exploited LiteSpeed cPanel Plugin Zero-Day

Summary

CISA has added CVE-2026-48172, a critical privilege escalation vulnerability in LiteSpeed's cPanel user-end plugin (CVSS 9.8), to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog after active wild exploitation. The flaw affects versions 2.3 through 2.4.4 and allows attackers to execute arbitrary scripts with root privileges. LiteSpeed patched the issue in version 2.4.5, and CISA has ordered federal agencies to patch or remove the vulnerable plugin by May 29, 2026.

Full text

CISA on Tuesday urged federal agencies to immediately patch a critical-severity vulnerability in the LiteSpeed user-end plugin for cPanel that has been exploited in the wild. Tracked as CVE-2026-48172 (CVSS score of 9.8), the flaw is described as a privilege escalation issue that could allow attackers to execute arbitrary scripts with root privileges. LiteSpeed resolved the security defect last week in version 2.4.5 of the user-end plugin, noting that it had been exploited in the wild as a zero-day. LiteSpeed’s WHM plugin is not affected, it said. “This vulnerability is being actively exploited, and poses a risk for all user-end plugin versions between v2.3 and v2.4.4,” LiteSpeed warned. It also provided users with instructions on how to check if their servers have been affected, recommending immediate action if potential exploitation has been identified. “We recommend you examine the IPs in the list, determine if they are valid, and if not, block them. To determine any damage done, examine the system logs for any actions taken by the detected IPs,” LiteSpeed said.Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading. Users should upgrade to LiteSpeed WHM Plugin version 5.3.1.0 (bundled with the user-end plugin version 2.4.7) or higher, which contain patches for the vulnerability. If patching is not possible, users are advised to completely remove the plugin. On May 19, cPanel pushed a nightly update that removed the LiteSpeed user-end plugin for all cPanel versions, underlining that the exploited CVE allowed unauthorized root access to the server. On Tuesday, CISA added CVE-2026-48172 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, urging federal agencies to patch it or remove the vulnerable plugin versions by May 29, in line with Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 22-01 guidance. Related: Hackers Exploited KnowledgeDeliver Zero-Day for Web Shell Deployment Related: Ghost CMS Vulnerability Exploited to Hack Over 700 Websites Related: Verizon DBIR 2026: Vulnerability Exploitation Overtakes Credential Theft as Top Breach Vector Related: Over 40,000 Servers Compromised in Ongoing cPanel Exploitation Written By Ionut Arghire Ionut Arghire is an international correspondent for SecurityWeek. Daily Briefing Newsletter Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing for the latest cybersecurity threats, trends, and expert insights. More from Ionut Arghire Admins of Bulletproof Hosting Service Used by Russian Hackers Arrested in Netherlands266,000 Affected by Data Breach at Radiology Associates of RichmondLaravel-Lang Packages Poisoned for Malware DeliveryDocketWise Data Breach Impacts 143,000Over 5,500 GitHub Repositories Infected in ‘Megalodon’ Supply Chain Attack‘Underminr’ Vulnerability Lets Attackers Hide Malicious Connections Behind Trusted DomainsGrafana Says Codebase and Other Data Stolen via TanStack Supply Chain AttackCisco Patches Critical Vulnerability in Secure Workload Latest News Anthropic Releases New Claude Sandbox, Security Guidance PluginAppOmni’s Marlin AI Brings Autonomous Investigation to SaaS SecurityIranian APT Targets Aviation, Software Companies With Updated Tools185,000 Likely Impacted by 7-Eleven Data BreachAnthropic Expands Claude’s Enterprise Security Governance With 28 New IntegrationsHackers Exploited KnowledgeDeliver Zero-Day for Web Shell DeploymentWatch on Demand: Threat Detection & Incident Response Summit – All Sessions AvailableOpen Source DockSec Uses AI to Cut Through Vulnerability Noise in Docker Images Trending Daily Briefing NewsletterSubscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts. Virtual Event: Threat Detection and Incident Response Summit On-Demand Delve into big-picture strategies to reduce attack surfaces, improve patch management, conduct post-incident forensics, and tools and tricks needed in a modern organization. Register Webinar: Third-Party Risk in Practice June 4, 2026 Organizations are investing heavily in third-party risk management, but breaches, delays, and blind spots continue to persist. Join this live webinar as we examine the gap between how organizations think their third-party risk programs are performing and what’s actually happening in practice. Register People on the MoveJoe Chen has become Chief Technology Officer at Trellix.Usercentrics has named Pawan Hegde as COO and Elena Ignatova as CPTO.SecureAuth has named Mark van Oppen as Chief Revenue Officer.More People On The MoveExpert Insights Caught Off Guard: Securing AI After It Hits Production As enterprises rush AI projects into production, security teams are increasingly being forced into reactive mode. (Joshua Goldfarb) Cyber Resilience is the New Business Continuity Plan The organizations best prepared to face disruption are those that align security, continuity and risk management around what the business cannot afford to lose. (Steve Durbin) Enhancing Data Center Security Without Sacrificing Performance For AI data centers, where the stakes are the highest and performance constraints are the tightest, security and performance are no longer a zero-sum game. (Nadir Izrael) Is the SOC Obsolete, and We Just Haven’t Admitted It Yet? Many AI-first enterprises have already embraced sovereign architectures for general AI initiatives; cybersecurity—and the SOC—should be next. (Danelle Au) The Mythos Moment: Enterprises Must Fight Agents with Agents Only with the right platform and an agentic, AI-driven defense, will enterprises be able to protect themselves in the agentic era. (Etay Maor) Flipboard Reddit Whatsapp Whatsapp Email

Indicators of Compromise

• cve — CVE-2026-48172

Entities