CVE-2016-10820
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedcPanel before 55.9999.141 allows daemons to access their controlling TTYs (SEC-31).
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidencecPanel before version 55.9999.141 contains a vulnerability where daemons can access their controlling TTYs (SEC-31). This allows daemons to potentially interact with terminal devices they should not have access to, which could lead to privilege escalation or other security complications in the hosting environment.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data>= 11.50.0.4, < 11.50.5.2>= 11.52.0.5, < 11.52.4.1> 11.54.0.0., < 11.54.0.20CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify cPanel is installedCheck for cPanel installation by looking for the /usr/local/cpanel directory or run: ls -la /usr/local/cpanelAffected if The /usr/local/cpanel directory does not exist, meaning cPanel is not installed and this CVE does not apply.
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Retrieve installed cPanel versionRun the command: /usr/local/cpanel/cpanel -V or cat /var/cpanel/cpanel.versionAffected if Unable to determine version, indicating cPanel may not be properly installed.
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Compare version against affected rangesTake the version number from step 2 and check if it falls within: 11.50.0.4 to 11.50.5.2, OR 11.52.0.5 to 11.52.4.1, OR 11.54.0.0 to 11.54.0.20Affected if The installed version is within any of these ranges, the environment is affected by CVE-2016-10820.
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Verify cPanel version is below 55.9999.141Compare the installed version number to 55.9999.141 - any version lower than this in the 55.x branch is affectedAffected if The installed version is lower than 55.9999.141, the vulnerability is present.
The system is affected if cPanel is installed and the installed version falls within any of the three vulnerable ranges or is below version 55.9999.141.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor data11.50.5.211.52.4.111.54.0.20
Upgrade cPanel to version 55.9999.141 or later. Schedule the upgrade during a maintenance window, ensure backups are in place, and verify all services function correctly after the update.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-10820 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-10820 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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