CVE-2018-20925
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 70.0.23 allows local privilege escalation via the WHM Legacy Language File Upload interface (SEC-379).
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 70.0.23 contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability in the WHM (Web Host Manager) Legacy Language File Upload interface. An attacker with local access to the server could exploit this to escalate their privileges, potentially gaining root access. This is a local attack requiring authentication to the affected system.
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>= 61.9999.55, < 62.0.42>= 67.9999.64, < 68.0.33>= 69.9999.122, < 70.0.23CVSS 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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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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Identify cPanel installation and versionRun: /usr/local/cpanel/version or rpm -qa | grep -i cpanelAffected if Version number returned is within affected ranges (< 62.0.42 with base >= 61.9999.55, < 68.0.33 with base >= 67.9999.64, or < 70.0.23 with base >= 69.9999.122)
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Verify WHM access existsCheck /var/cpanel/users/ for user accounts or review /var/cpanel/resellers for reseller accounts with WHM privilegesAffected if Non-admin user accounts exist with access to WHM interface
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Confirm Legacy Language File Upload interface is accessibleAccess WHM and navigate to the Legacy Language File Upload feature or query WHM API: whmapi1 featurelist | grep -i langAffected if The legacy language upload interface is present and enabled in the WHM feature list
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Review server user privilegesCheck /etc/trueuserdomains and examine which users have shell access or WHM account accessAffected if Low-privileged user accounts exist on the system who could potentially exploit this local vulnerability
The environment is affected if cPanel version is below 70.0.23 and falls within the affected version ranges while non-admin users have WHM access to the Legacy Language File Upload interface.
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 data62.0.4268.0.3370.0.23
Upgrade cPanel to version 70.0.23 or later. Since this is a local privilege escalation, ensure proper access controls and monitoring on the server. Review user accounts and consider limiting WHM access to trusted administrators only.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-20925 — 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-2018-20925 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data