Thank you Cpanel! The WP auto update feature is a function that has sideswiped more websites on more hosts then I care to count. A well intended disaster from beginning to end.

As a rule, we disable the auto update for both themes and plugins via 2 lines in the wp config on every site we build.

Of course we know it is incumbent upon us on any sites we manage to keep everything up to date - don't even bother going there in this discussion. If after design the site is turned over to the customer to manage, they are advised and given a choice.

I have seen to many sites which have either malfunctioned or crashed after the auto update (more of the former then latter thankfully).

I will write to cpanel and urge them to change nothing, or at least make the auto update feature optional.