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VulnerabilityPublished

CVE-2026-121139: Rapid7 Metasploit Framework · Missing Authentication for Critical Functionality

Affects Rapid7 Metasploit FrameworkSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.3 High : upgrade to 6.5.9 soon.

Data as of 5 Nov 2026, 15:49 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score
7.3High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

Thin evidence

One scorer or none
CVSS scores by source
CNA (rapid7)CVSS 4.07.3
Patch
Available – fixed in 6.5.9
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 5 Nov 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponized: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 5 Nov 2026.

What to do

Upgrade Rapid7 Metasploit Framework to 6.5.9.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
Rapid7Metasploit FrameworkAffected
  • <6.5.9
Fixed in
  • 6.5.9

Description

The Rapid7 Metasploit msf-ws suffers from a missing authentication vulnerability whereby the REST API grants an unauthenticated "bootstrap" exemption so that the very first administrator can be created when the users table is empty. While the table is empty, POST /api/v1/users is exempt from authentication by design: the route handler calls warden.authenticate!(scope: :admin_api), which resolves to AdminApiToken. The inherited ApiToken#authenticate! short-circuits and returns success!() whenever msf.auth_initialized is false, without ever evaluating AdminApiToken's administrator check. In that state the endpoint creates a user — including an administrator — for an entirely unauthenticated caller. This issue has been fixed in version 6.5.9.

References

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