CVE Catalog

CVE-2026-16895

MediumCVSS 5.1
Published: Updated: Translated: NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk
0.16%

6th percentile - higher than 6% of all known CVEs

Summary

A logic vulnerability (fail-open condition) has been identified in 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 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.

Risk Assessment

A local attacker could gain unauthorized access to the JSON-RPC interface, potentially leading to unauthorized operations, including framework management and possibly privilege escalation.

Recommendation

Set the environment variable MSF_WS_JSON_RPC_API_TOKEN and upgrade Metasploit Framework to a patched version. Also restrict access to the JSON-RPC interface to trusted users only.

Related vulnerabilities

Original NVD description (English source)

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.

Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS