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.
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Affected Vendors & Products
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References
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 |
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| Metrics |
cvssV4_0
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Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: rapid7
Published:
Updated: 2026-08-27T03:14:21.055Z
Reserved: 2026-07-24T05:29:02.405Z
Link: CVE-2026-16895
No data.
Status : Received
Published: 2026-08-27T04:16:41.530
Modified: 2026-08-27T04:16:41.530
Link: CVE-2026-16895
No data.
OpenCVE Enrichment
Updated: 2026-08-27T05:30:07Z
Weaknesses