High Authentication exploit reference

CVE-2026-12196 — HestiaCP Admin Takeover

HestiaCP panel cronjob feature is affected by a broken access control vulnerability. Low privilege users can modify the panel cronjob to execute scripts HestiaCP management scripts with passwordless sudo. This could result in the takeover of administrator users in the application and the underlying webserver.

Published Jul 4, 2026 · Updated Oct 15, 2026 · Sources: NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP · CNA: PRJBLK

Low

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

No exploitation signal in the sources consulted so far.

How the score was calculated

Technical severity (high)+6
CISA SSVC: exploitation "poc"+5

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation

Not confirmed

Not in CISA KEV — an absence of record, not proof it is unexploited.

EPSS FIRST

—

No EPSS score.

Affects

Hestiacp

CVSS base

8.3

High · 2 source(s)

CISA SSVC assessment CISA

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

Exploitation

Proof of concept

none · proof-of-concept · active

Automatable

can an attacker script the kill-chain steps

Technical impact

Partial

partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

No fix documented by the sources we poll. That does not mean none exists: check the vendor advisory.

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Hestiacp Hestiacp).
No fix documented in the sources: reduce exposure and monitor the vendor advisory.
Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (authentication), errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

Vendor	Product	Versions	Status	Source
Hestiacp	Hestiacp	< 8be23943c7e3231f66d226ca931c76f93be98412	Vulnerable	CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector

Network

Attack complexity

Low

Attack requirements

None

Privileges required

Low

User interaction

None

Scope

Confidentiality (vulnerable system)

High

Integrity (vulnerable system)

None

Availability (vulnerable system)

None

Confidentiality (subsequent)

High

Integrity (subsequent)

None

Availability (subsequent)

None

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Scored by
8.3	CVSS 4.0	High	—	—	ab69c47f-b95e-4bf2-b2d9-4b1fd1b24b4a via NIST National Vulnerability Database
8.3	CVSS 4.0	High	—	—	PRJBLK via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

(score shown at the top: ab69c47f-b95e-4bf2-b2d9-4b1fd1b24b4a)

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-287 · Improper Authentication

Other CVEs with this weakness →

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

Prioritize edge telemetry for the network-reachable component (proxy, WAF, IDS/IPS).
Review authentication logs: logins without MFA, anomalous sessions and recently created accounts.

web/proxy/WAF logsnetwork IDS/IPSauthentication logs

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

2026
Affected products added · hestiacp/hestiacp
Oct 15, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
SSVC assessment updated
Oct 15, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Record published
Oct 15, 2026
CVSS changed · 8.3
Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Source status changed · → Deferred
Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Record created in this database
Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
CVE published
Jul 4, 2026 · PRJBLK

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

1× Official description updated · Oct 15, 2026 – Oct 15, 2026

References

2 on the record

github.com/hestiacp/hestiacp/pull/5440
patch, NIST National Vulnerability Database
projectblack.io/blog/hestiacp-admin-takeover-rce/
exploit, NIST National Vulnerability Database

Elsewhere on this site

Hestiacp
every CVE for this vendor

Authentication
same class

CWE-287
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

Critical CVE-2026-108390 HestiaCP Low-Privileged User to Root via Config-Field Injection and PATH Hijacking 1d
Medium CVE-2025-30008 HestiaCP < 1.9.5 Stored XSS via DNS Record Management Interface Jul 10, 2026
High CVE-2025-30007 HestiaCP < 1.9.5 Authenticated OS Command Injection via DNS Record Management Jul 10, 2026
High CVE-2026-43634 HestiaCP 1.2.0-1.9.4 IP Spoofing via CF-Connecting-IP Header May 19, 2026
Critical CVE-2026-43633 HestiaCP 1.9.0-1.9.4 Deserialization RCE via Web Terminal May 19, 2026

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

No FIRST EPSS score.
No fixed version, patch or mitigation documented.
No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2026-12196 is "HestiaCP Admin Takeover", rated High. It affects Hestiacp (Hestiacp); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 8.3 describes technical severity. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

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