Actively exploited vulnerability

LiteSpeed cPanel Plugin: vulnerability flaw under attack

CVE-2026-54420 · LiteSpeed cPanel Plugin UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following Vulnerability

Business software8.5 high

What is affected

LiteSpeed cPanel Plugin is mostly run by companies, schools and public bodies, not on home computers. You are unlikely to have it yourself, but organisations that hold your data may. Breaches that start with flaws like this one are how personal data ends up leaked.

LiteSpeed cPanel plugin contains a UNIX symbolic link (Symlink) following vulnerability that could allow a user with FTP or web shell access on a shared hosting server running CloudLinux/CageFS.

CISA's description

What an attacker can do

This is a vulnerability flaw. It lets an attacker misuse the product in a way its maker did not intend. CISA lists it because attackers are confirmed to be using it against real systems.

How it is reached
Over the internet or network
Access the attacker needs
A basic user account
Does the victim have to do something?
No, works without the victim doing anything

What to do

  1. At home: nothing to install. Keep your own devices updated and use a different password for every service, so that a breach at one organisation does not open your other accounts.
  2. If you administer LiteSpeed cPanel Plugin at work: apply the vendor's fix or mitigation now and review logs for signs of compromise, because the flaw was being exploited before it was listed.
  3. If the product is past its support date and no fix exists, take it off the internet or retire it.

Apply mitigations in accordance with vendor instructions, ensuring compliance with CISA’s BOD 26-04 Prioritizing Security Updates Based on Risk (see URL in Notes) guidance and CISA’s “Forensics Triage Requirements” (see URL in Notes). Follow applicable BOD 26-04 guidance for cloud services or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Stakeholders are responsible for evaluating each asset's internet exposure and ensuring adherence to BOD 26-04 patching guidelines.

Action required by CISA for US federal agencies

Vendor advisories and fixes

How urgent is it

CISA added this vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on June 15, 2026, which means there is reliable evidence of attacks in the wild. US federal agencies must fix it by June 18, 2026, a deadline that has already passed. That deadline does not bind anyone else, but it shows how seriously the agency rates it.

The EPSS model estimates a 0.8% probability that this flaw will be exploited somewhere in the next 30 days. That is higher than 55% of all scored vulnerabilities.

Its CVSS severity score is 8.5 out of 10 (high), as recorded in the US National Vulnerability Database.

Technical description

LiteSpeed cPanel plugin before 2.4.8 (as distributed in LiteSpeed WHM PlugIn before 5.3.2.0) mishandles symlinks provided by a user with FTP or web shell access on a shared hosting server running CloudLinux/CageFS, as exploited in the wild in May 2026.

NIST National Vulnerability Database
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