{"id":"CVE-2026-16895","aliases":["EUVD-2026-66836","GHSA-3p6c-gvpg-f24w"],"status":"published","title":"Authentication Bypass in Metasploit JSON-RPC Service When DB Health Check Fails","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.","severity":{"version":"4.0","score":5.1,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N","level":"medium","assessor":"cna","from":"cve"},"epss":{"day":"2026-11-10","score":0.00234,"percentile":0.14412,"model":"v2026.06.15"},"facts":{"in_kev":false,"known_exploited":false,"public_exploit":false,"fix_available":false},"cwes":["CWE-305"],"published":"2026-08-27T03:14:21Z","modified":"2026-08-28T21:17:10Z","products":[{"vendor":"rapid7","product":"metasploit-framework"}],"references":[{"url":"https://www.rapid7.com/blog/post/pt-metasploit-wrap-up-lot-of-summer-shells-and-fit-http-profiles/","tags":["vendor-advisory"]},{"url":"https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/pull/21768","tags":["patch"]},{"url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-16895"},{"url":"https://www.rapid7.com/blog/post/pt-metasploit-wrap-up-lot-of-summer-shells-and-fit-http-profiles"},{"url":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-3p6c-gvpg-f24w"}],"sources":{"cve":[{"id":"CVE-2026-16895","title":"Authentication Bypass in Metasploit JSON-RPC Service When DB Health Check Fails","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.","status":"published","published":"2026-08-27T03:14:21.055Z","modified":"2026-08-27T13:09:40.173Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":5.1,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N","level":"medium","assessor":"cna"}],"cwes":["CWE-305"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:20:11.24076Z"}],"euvd":[{"id":"EUVD-2026-66836","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.","status":"published","published":"2026-08-27T03:14:21Z","modified":"2026-08-27T13:09:40Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":5.1,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N","level":"medium"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T18:01:28.581047Z"}],"ghsa":[{"id":"GHSA-3p6c-gvpg-f24w","title":"A logic vulnerability (fail-open condition) has been identified within the Metasploit Framework's...","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.","status":"published","published":"2026-08-27T06:31:33Z","modified":"2026-08-27T06:31:38Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":5.1,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/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","level":"medium"}],"cwes":["CWE-305"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:11:02.620282Z"}],"nvd":[{"id":"CVE-2026-16895","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.","status":"published","published":"2026-08-27T04:16:41.53Z","modified":"2026-08-28T21:17:10.72Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":5.1,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/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","level":"medium","assessor":"secondary"}],"cwes":["CWE-305"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:12:42.035353Z"}]}}