I am having similar problems with cron since the upgrade to 5.2.4 stable
it creates the days invoices, but does nothing else. It does not run the days cc payments, or do any of the other maintenance. It sends no email on completion. When running it manually, it does exactly the same thing. I did re-save the automation settings, it made no difference.
just as bad, all the cpanel module buttons now do nothing at all.
i submitted a ticket yesterday, no joy on that score yet either.