Rapid7 Metasploit Framework up to 6.5.8 REST API /api/v1/users ApiToken#authenticate missing authentication

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Rapid7 Metasploit Framework up to 6.5.8 and classified as critical. Affected by this issue is the function ApiToken#authenticate of the file /api/v1/users of the component REST API. Such manipulation leads to missing authentication. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2026-121139. The attack may be performed from remote. There is no available exploit. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Rapid7 Metasploit Framework up to 6.5.8. Affected by this issue is the function ApiToken#authenticate of the file /api/v1/users of the component REST API. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a missing authentication vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-306. The product does not perform any authentication for functionality that requires a provable user identity or consumes a significant amount of resources. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

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.

The advisory is available at github.com. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-121139 since 11/03/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. No form of authentication is required for exploitation. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit.

Upgrading to version 6.5.9 eliminates this vulnerability.

If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Productinfo

Vendor

• Rapid7

Name

• Metasploit Framework

Version

• 6.5.0
• 6.5.1
• 6.5.2
• 6.5.3
• 6.5.4
• 6.5.5
• 6.5.6
• 6.5.7
• 6.5.8

License

• commercial

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Discussion