CVE-2026-16895 Authentication Bypass in Metasploit JSON-RPC Service When DB Health Check Fails
Attackers can bypass authentication in Metasploit's JSON-RPC service if the database health check fails and no API token is set.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-16895?
CVE-2026-16895 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Rapid7 Metasploit-framework, published on 27 Aug 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official 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.
Weakness: CWE-305
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-16895?
How do I fix CVE-2026-16895?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-16895 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Upgrade, and rotate credentials and sessions that may have been exposed. More about Authentication bypass.
Is CVE-2026-16895 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-16895 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-3p6c-gvpg-f24w.