Vulnerability-Lookup

GHSA-9HFJ-JG3V-C22G

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-11-05 18:33 – Updated: 2026-11-05 18:33

Details

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.

Severity

7.8 (High)


                  
                    CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

7.3 (High)


                  
                    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

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JSON

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{
  "affected": [],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2026-121139"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-306"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": false,
    "github_reviewed_at": null,
    "nvd_published_at": "2026-11-05T16:17:44Z",
    "severity": "HIGH"
  },
  "details": "The Rapid7 Metasploit\u00a0msf-ws\u00a0suffers 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\u00a0users\u00a0table is empty. While the table is empty,\u00a0POST /api/v1/users\u00a0is exempt from authentication by design: the route handler calls\u00a0warden.authenticate!(scope: :admin_api), which resolves to\u00a0AdminApiToken.\u00a0The inherited\u00a0ApiToken#authenticate!\u00a0short-circuits and returns\u00a0success!()\u00a0whenever\u00a0msf.auth_initialized\u00a0is false, without ever evaluating\u00a0AdminApiToken\u0027s administrator check. In that state the endpoint creates a user \u2014 including an administrator \u2014 for an entirely unauthenticated caller.\n\n\nThis issue has been fixed in version 6.5.9.",
  "id": "GHSA-9hfj-jg3v-c22g",
  "modified": "2026-11-05T18:33:12Z",
  "published": "2026-11-05T18:33:12Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-121139"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/pull/22039"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    },
    {
      "score": "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/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X",
      "type": "CVSS_V4"
    }
  ]
}

CVE-2026-121139 (GCVE-0-2026-121139)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-11-05 15:24 – Updated: 2026-11-06 06:13

Title

Rapid7 Metasploit Framework Web Service unauthenticated bootstrap window allows creation of an administrator account without authentication

Summary

Severity

7.3 (High)


                        
                          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

7.8 (High)


                        
                          CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

SSVC

Exploitation: none Automatable: no Technical Impact: total

CISA Coordinator · CISA-ADP (v2.0.3)

Decision recorded 2026-11-05 17:10 UTC

CWE

CWE-306 - Missing authentication for critical function

Assigner

rapid7 CNA under the mitre root

CNA scorecard B 76/100 over 78 records in the last 180 days details

References

1 reference

URL	Tags
https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/pu…

Impacted products

1 product

Vendor	Product	Version
Rapid7	Metasploit Framework	Affected: 0 , < 6.5.9 (git)

Credits

Ali Ganiyev Tanish Agarwal

Show details on NVD website

JSON

To clipboard

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Sightings

Author	Source	Type	Date	Other

Nomenclature

Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.

Vulnerability timeline

Sightings and recorded dates, grouped by day · UTC

Order JSON

How durations are calculated

Following the VTEM framework (Black Hat USA 2015), time to patch starts when the vendor or a coordinator was informed, total time to patch at discovery, and disclosure to patch at public disclosure; vendor response time runs from the report to its acknowledgement. Time to exploit and time unpatched start at the earliest discovery or report, falling back to public disclosure. Unpatched time ends at the first recorded patch, or the calculation time when no patch is recorded. Exploitation to patch shows the interval between those two events; a published proof of concept is a public exploit, not exploitation.

Each result shows its source dates. A negative interval means the end event came first; when date-only inputs leave the order open, the result says so. Date-only inputs are approximate. The earliest evidence wins: KEV report dates and sightings are labelled as such. Records describing another vulnerability are listed but never calculated from, and a PoC alone does not establish exploitation. Missing patch evidence does not prove that no patch exists. Filters below change the event list only.

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The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
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