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CVE-2026-41940 – Authentication bypass in cPanel & WHM login flow

Overview

CVE-2026-41940 is a critical authentication bypass vulnerability affecting cPanel & WHM. The issue allows unauthenticated remote attackers to bypass the login flow and gain unauthorized access to the control panel.

Vulnerability details

  • Type: Authentication bypass (CWE-306)
  • Root cause: A flaw in the login flow that permits authentication to be bypassed under certain conditions, enabling attackers to access cPanel/WHM functionality without valid credentials.
  • Exploitability: Network-accessible; no privileges or user interaction required.

Affected software / versions

According to the advisory data, affected versions include cPanel & WHM versions prior to the following builds (upgrade to these builds or later):

  • 11.110.0.97
  • 11.118.0.63
  • 11.126.0.54
  • 11.132.0.29
  • 11.134.0.20
  • 11.136.0.5

If your cPanel/WHM instances run versions older than the builds above, they are considered vulnerable.

Severity & potential impact

  • Severity: CRITICAL
  • CVSS 3.1 (per advisory): 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)

Potential impacts of successful exploitation include:

  • Unauthorized administrative access to cPanel and WHM management interfaces
  • Full compromise of hosted accounts and management of hosted services
  • Data exposure of hosted sites and customer information
  • Lateral movement within hosting infrastructure and potential deployment of malicious content or backdoors

Recommended actions / mitigations

  • Patch immediately: Upgrade cPanel & WHM to the fixed builds listed above (or later) via the vendor release process.
  • Restrict access: Where patching is delayed, restrict access to cPanel/WHM management ports (typically 2082/2083/2086/2087) to trusted IP ranges via firewall rules.
  • Rotate credentials: Consider rotating administrative credentials and API keys used by affected systems after patching.
  • Audit & monitor: Review authentication and access logs for suspicious login activity and signs of unauthorized changes. Check for web shells or unexpected cron jobs on hosted accounts.
  • Apply vendor guidance: Follow any additional mitigation or detection guidance published by cPanel.

IONIX Status

The IONIX research team is tracking ongoing exploitation attempts and recommends immediate patching. Potentially affected assets are outlined in this post.

References

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