5.1

CVE-2026-16895: Authentication Bypass in Metasploit JSON-RPC Service When DB Health Check Fails

Awaiting analysis
Published 27-08-2026Last modified 27-08-2026

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-16895 is a medium (CVSS 5.1) vulnerability in rapid7 metasploit-framework. EPSS estimates a 0.16% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 4.9% of scored vulnerabilities.

Overall risk
20/100
0100
Low · default modelHow is this calculated?
CVSS score
5.1/10
010
Medium · v4.0 (CVE.org)
EPSS score
0.16%
0%100%
Low · 0.00 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedNot listed by any tracked catalog.
RansomwareNot flaggedNo ransomware use recorded.
Public exploits0No public exploits recorded

Timeline

  1. 27-08-2026
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 27-08-2026
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

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.

CVSS metrics

2 scores · 2 sources · 1 version

EPSS trend

Probability

0.16%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

5%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

No change 0.00 pp

From 0.16% on 22-09-2026

22-09-202622-10-2026

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEV

Not in the CISA KEV catalog.

ENISA CNW

Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.

CIRCL

Not in the CIRCL catalog.

Public exploits

0 found

No public exploits indexed.

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

Affected systems

Rapid71 product

1 vendor · 1 product

References

2 links