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CpanelApplication

CVE-2018-20886

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-08-01
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 70.0.53 / 72.0.10 or later.
See remediation →
55/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
cPanel before 74.0.0 insecurely stores phpMyAdmin session files (SEC-418).

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

cPanel before version 74.0.0 stores phpMyAdmin session files in an insecure manner, potentially allowing unauthorized access to or hijacking of user sessions.

MitigationUpgrade cPanel to version 74.0.0 or later to secure phpMyAdmin session file storage.

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:>= 69.9999.122, < 70.0.53>= 71.9980.30, < 72.0.10>= 73.9980.0, < 74.0.0

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

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

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. Identify installed cPanel version
    Run command: /usr/local/cpanel/cpanel -V or check /usr/local/cpanel/version
    Affected if Version falls within any of these ranges: 69.9999.122 to 70.0.52, 71.9980.30 to 72.0.9, or 73.9980.0 to 73.x.x (before 74.0.0)
  2. Confirm phpMyAdmin is accessible
    Visit https://yourserver.com:2083/3rdparty/phpMyAdmin or check if /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/phpMyAdmin directory exists
    Affected if phpMyAdmin is installed and accessible to users on the server
  3. Inspect session file storage location
    Check the session.save_path in phpMyAdmin configuration files under /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/phpMyAdmin/ or examine /var/cpanel/phpMyAdmin/sessions/
    Affected if Session files are stored in a world-readable location or default temp directory without proper access controls

You are affected if your cPanel version is between 69.9999.122 and 74.0.0 (excluding 74.0.0 itself) AND phpMyAdmin session files are accessible on this server.

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 70.0.53 / 72.0.10 / 74.0.0 or later
Fixed in 70.0.5372.0.1074.0.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade cPanel to version 74.0.0 or later to secure phpMyAdmin session file storage.

Fix this in Cpanel Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,424.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-20886 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

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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-2018-20886 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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