Vulnerability · Published Nov 5, 2026 · Assigned by rapid7
CVE-2026-121139Rapid7 Metasploit Framework Web Service unauthenticated bootstrap window allows creation of an administrator account without authentication
High 7.8
In plain English
A high-severity missing authentication in Metasploit Framework from Rapid7. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 5% of all known vulnerabilities).
Official 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.
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Rapid7 | Metasploit Framework | 0 – before 6.5.9 |
Weakness: CWE-306 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H