How to Enable Automatic Security Updates on Your CloudLinux Server

Keeping your server's packages up to date is one of the easiest ways to stay protected against security vulnerabilities. CloudLinux includes a built-in tool called dnf-automatic that can handle this for you, automatically.

Note: This requires root/SSH access to your server. If you're on a shared hosting plan, this is already managed for you — no action needed.

Step 1: Install dnf-automatic

dnf install -y dnf-automatic

Step 2: Enable automatic updates

Open the configuration file:

nano /etc/dnf/automatic.conf

Find the line apply_updates = no and change it to:

apply_updates = yes

Save and exit (Ctrl + O, Enter, Ctrl + X).

Step 3: Turn on the update schedule

systemctl enable --now dnf-automatic.timer

This runs automatically once a day in the background.

Step 4: Confirm it's running

systemctl list-timers dnf-automatic.timer
systemctl status dnf-automatic.timer

You should see active in the status, and a scheduled "next run" time in the timer list.

That's it. Your server will now check for and apply updates automatically each day, helping keep it secure without manual intervention.

If you'd like assistance configuring this or want to review your update logs, feel free to open a support ticket and our team can help.