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.
Published: 2026-11-05
Score: 7.3 High
EPSS: n/a
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
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Remediation

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History

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 15:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
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.
Title Rapid7 Metasploit Framework Web Service unauthenticated bootstrap window allows creation of an administrator account without authentication
Weaknesses CWE-306
References
Metrics cvssV4_0

{'score': 7.3, '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'}

Subscriptions

No data.

cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: rapid7

Published:

Updated: 2026-11-05T15:25:27.727Z

Reserved: 2026-11-03T09:50:59.943Z

Link: CVE-2026-121139

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-11-05T16:17:44.787

Modified: 2026-11-05T16:17:44.787

Link: CVE-2026-121139

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses
  • CWE-306

    Missing Authentication for Critical Function