The vulnerability is a CWE‑61 path traversal flaw in a chmod call within the cPanel Nova plugin. When an authenticated cPanel user creates a symbolic link inside their user‑controlled legacy Nova path, the plugin follows the link and applies root ownership to the target file or directory. This allows the attacker to change permissions on arbitrary system files or directories, leading to either a denial of service or local privilege escalation to root.

Affected products include WebPros cPanel and WebPros WP Squared, as well as cPanel running on CentOS 6 and CloudLinux 6. Users of these systems should verify the version of the Nova plugin and the operating system distribution to determine whether the vulnerability applies.

The CVE has no publicly disclosed exploit and the EPSS score is not available; the CVSS score of 8.8 indicates a high‑severity vulnerability. The flaw permits local privilege escalation for authenticated users, which constitutes a high‑severity risk. Because the attacker only needs to be an authorized cPanel user, the likelihood of exploitation is significant in environments where administrators trust users with file system access. The vulnerability is not listed in CISA’s KEV catalog, but the potential impact warrants prompt attention.