A logic vulnerability (fail-open condition) has been identified within the Metasploit Framework's JSON-RPC web service interface. When an exception occurs during the database health check (db.check) and the environment variable MSF_WS_JSON_RPC_API_TOKEN is not explicitly set, the application resets the internal state flag msf.auth_initialized to false. The ApiToken Warden authentication strategy misinterprets this false value as an indicator that authentication is not initialized or required, thereby granting unauthenticated local access to the JSON-RPC request dispatcher.
History

Thu, 27 Aug 2026 04:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description A logic vulnerability (fail-open condition) has been identified within the Metasploit Framework's JSON-RPC web service interface. When an exception occurs during the database health check (db.check) and the environment variable MSF_WS_JSON_RPC_API_TOKEN is not explicitly set, the application resets the internal state flag msf.auth_initialized to false. The ApiToken Warden authentication strategy misinterprets this false value as an indicator that authentication is not initialized or required, thereby granting unauthenticated local access to the JSON-RPC request dispatcher.
Title Authentication Bypass in Metasploit JSON-RPC Service When DB Health Check Fails
Weaknesses CWE-305
References
Metrics cvssV4_0

{'score': 5.1, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N'}


cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: rapid7

Published:

Updated: 2026-08-27T03:14:21.055Z

Reserved: 2026-07-24T05:29:02.405Z

Link: CVE-2026-16895

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-08-27T04:16:41.530

Modified: 2026-08-27T04:16:41.530

Link: CVE-2026-16895

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-08-27T05:30:07Z