Crucial cPanel PHP-FPM Configuration Issue Preventing Proper Server Optimization on New Setup

we're hitting a wall trying to get PHP-FPM working correctly on a new cPanel setup after some initial server optimizaton.

getting this persistent 'No input file specified' error, even after checking virtual host configs and fpm pool settings. it's really stalling our deployment.

[23-Apr-2024 10:30:05 UTC] WARNING: [pool example.com] child 12345 exited with code 0 after 1.234567 seconds from start\n[23-Apr-2024 10:30:05 UTC] NOTICE: [pool example.com] child 12346 started\nFastCGI sent in stderr: "Primary script unknown" while reading response header from upstream, client: 192.168.1.1, server: example.com, request: "GET /index.php HTTP/1.1", upstream: "unix:/var/run/php-fpm/example.com.sock:/index.php", host: "example.com"

anyone faced this before?