NexposeApplication · Rapid7

CVE-2019-5638

HIGH · 8.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-08-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 6.5.50 or later.
See remediation →
91/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Rapid7 Nexpose versions 6.5.50 and prior suffer from insufficient session expiration when an administrator performs a security relevant edit on an existing, logged on user. For example, if a user's password is changed by an administrator due to an otherwise unrelated credential leak, that user account's current session is still valid after the password change, potentially allowing the attacker who originally compromised the credential to remain logged in and able to cause further damage.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Rapid7 Nexpose versions 6.5.50 and prior fail to invalidate active user sessions when an administrator performs security-relevant edits such as password changes. When an administrator changes a user's password (e.g., in response to a credential leak), the affected user's existing session remains valid, allowing an attacker who compromised the original credentials to continue operating within the application.

MitigationOrganizations should monitor for unauthorized session activity, manually terminate active sessions for users whose credentials have been changed, and apply vendor patches when available. Until the vendor releases a fix, implement strict session monitoring and consider enforcing periodic re-authentication.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
NexposeApplication
Affected:<= 6.5.50

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify if Rapid7 Nexpose is installed
    Locate Nexpose installation directories or check system services for 'nexpose' or 'InsightVM' processes
    Affected if Rapid7 Nexpose is found on the system
  2. Determine the installed Nexpose version
    Run 'nexpose-cli -v' or check the version file in the installation directory (typically in <install_path>/nsc/nse.xml or similar version manifest)
    Affected if Version cannot be determined or is 6.5.50 or lower
  3. Compare version against affected range
    Review the discovered version number against the vulnerable range: any version <= 6.5.50 is affected
    Affected if Installed version is 6.5.50 or any lower version number
  4. Review session activity logs
    Examine Nexpose audit and session logs for concurrent sessions belonging to users whose passwords were changed
    Affected if Active sessions exist for users after their passwords were modified by an administrator

The environment is affected if Rapid7 Nexpose version 6.5.50 or prior is installed, as the password change feature fails to invalidate existing user sessions.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 6.5.50
Interim mitigation

Organizations should monitor for unauthorized session activity, manually terminate active sessions for users whose credentials have been changed, and apply vendor patches when available. Until the vendor releases a fix, implement strict session monitoring and consider enforcing periodic re-authentication.

Fix this in Nexpose Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,160
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,856.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-5638 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data