Feature Request: Enable CIDR Notation for Remote Database Access Hosts

Gilbert Paquin

• July 31, 2025 16:58

Hello,

I'd like to request an enhancement to the "Remote Database Access" feature in cPanel. Currently, it doesn't support CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) notation for specifying allowed hosts, which complicates managing access for a range of IP addresses.

For example, I'd like to grant access to the entire 192.168.1.0/24 range.

Modern database systems are adopting more flexible IP address specifications. MySQL 8.0.23 and newer, for instance, directly support CIDR notation in GRANT statements:

GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'test'@'192.168.1.0/24';

I understand that MariaDB uses a netmask format for defining IP ranges, like this:

GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'test'@'192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0';

Since a simple conversion between CIDR and netmask is possible (e.g., /24 is equivalent to 255.255.255.0), it would be incredibly helpful if the cPanel interface could accept CIDR notation and automatically convert it to the appropriate format for the underlying database server (either MySQL or MariaDB).

Why is this important?

• Ease of Use: CIDR is the modern, standard notation for representing IP address ranges. Most users are more familiar with it than with subnet masks.

• Simplified Management: Allowing a single CIDR entry to cover an entire subnet is much easier than adding individual IP addresses or calculating netmasks manually.

• Improved Security: Precise IP range specifications help avoid overly broad wildcard rules (like %.example.com), leading to a more secure database configuration.

• Modernization and Consistency: Supporting CIDR in the interface would align cPanel with current industry standards and provide a more consistent user experience, regardless of the database backend.

Implementing this would be a significant quality-of-life improvement for cPanel users, making database access management more intuitive and secure.

Thank you for considering this feature

• 

  quietFinn

  • August 01, 2025 10:43

  https://support.cpanel.net/hc/en-us/articles/360052431134-How-to-submit-a-feature-request

   

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• 

  cPRex Jurassic Moderator

  • August 05, 2025 14:09
  • Edited

  Hey there!  I did also receive the feature request on this as well and I wanted to let you know that I've created case CPANEL-48477 with our team to see if we can get that adjusted!  If you'd ever like to request an update on this feel free to reach out to me here any time.

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