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No exploitation reportedAwaiting NVD analysis

CVE-2026-121139

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

No exploitation reported by the sources we read.

  • Published2026-11-05
  • WeaknessCWE-306

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

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.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2026-11-0515:24CVE publishedCNA

Versions per branch

Products declared by the CNA

As rapid7, the CNA that assigned this CVE, declared them in the CVE record; versions as written. NVD lists no product for this CVE yet: this is the only product data so far.

  • Rapid7 Metasploit Frameworkother versions: not affected
    Affected
    • < 6.5.9fixed in 6.5.9git

Source: the CNA record (CVE Program), © The MITRE Corporation,CVE Terms of UseCVE recordupdated 2026-11-05

Neither OSV.dev nor the vendor advisories we read list affected versions for CVE-2026-121139 yet.

Full record on NVD

Fix

No fix published by the sources we read yet. NVD record

Detection

Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Metasploit modules
none listed
Metasploit Framework

Sources

  • NVDCVE recordread 2026-11-05
  • CISA-ADPSSVC decisionnone2026-11-05
  • CNACVSS 4.07.32026-11-05
  • CISA-ADPCVSS 3.17.82026-11-05
  • CNAweakness (CWE)CWE-3062026-11-05

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 4.0 vector
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
Published
2026-11-05
Last Modified
2026-11-05
NVD status
Received

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-121139?

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.

Is CVE-2026-121139 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2026-121139 has not been confirmed.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-121139?

CVE-2026-121139 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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