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CpanelApplication

CVE-2016-10821

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-08-01
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 11.50.5.2 / 11.52.4.1 or later.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click

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 · unedited
In cPanel before 55.9999.141, Scripts/addpop reveals a command-line password in a process list (SEC-75).

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 · high confidence

The cPanel Scripts/addpop functionality passes password arguments via command line, exposing them in the process list. Any local user or attacker with access to process information can retrieve plaintext credentials from process listings.

MitigationUpgrade cPanel to version 55.9999.141 or later, which addresses this vulnerability by preventing passwords from being passed as command-line arguments.

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
CpanelApplication
Affected:>= 11.50.0.4, < 11.50.5.2>= 11.52.0.5, < 11.52.4.1>= 11.54.0.0, < 11.54.0.20

CVSS 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
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check cPanel version
    Run: cat /usr/local/cpanel/version or whmapi1 version
    Affected if The version falls within these ranges: 11.50.0.4 to 11.50.5.1, 11.52.0.5 to 11.52.4.0, or 11.54.0.0 to 11.54.0.19
  2. Inspect running processes for password exposure
    Run: ps auxww | grep -i addpop or ps auxww | grep -E '(pop|email).*pass' to look for processes containing password arguments
    Affected if Any process listing shows plaintext passwords in the command line arguments
  3. Check process history via process accounting
    If auditd or process accounting is enabled, search logs for command lines containing 'addpop' with password-like strings: aureport -x | grep addpop
    Affected if Historical process logs show passwords passed as command-line arguments to addpop scripts

You are affected if your cPanel version is within the vulnerable ranges AND passwords are visible in process listings when email accounts are created or modified.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 11.50.5.2 / 11.52.4.1 / 11.54.0.20 or later
Fixed in 11.50.5.211.52.4.111.54.0.20
Interim mitigation

Upgrade cPanel to version 55.9999.141 or later, which addresses this vulnerability by preventing passwords from being passed as command-line arguments.

Fix this in Cpanel Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,340
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,144.

Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-10821 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data