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Improper Access ControlWeakness · CWE-284

CVE-2026-7373

HIGH · 8.5 CVSS v4.0 Published 2026-05-15
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
90/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
No privileges Zero-click

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 Metasploit Pro is vulnerable to a local privilege escalation attack that allows a user to gain SYSTEM level control of a Windows host. When started the metasploitPostgreSQL service would start the postgres.exe child process which would in turn load an OpenSSL configuration file from a static location. This static location would be writable by a pre-existing "vagrant" user, if they already existed on the system. Metasploit does not create local accounts, an Administrator would need to create it. By planting a crafted openssl.cnf file an attacker can trick the high-privilege service into executing arbitrary commands. This effectively permits the unprivileged vagrant user to bypass security controls and achieve a full host compromise under the agent's SYSTEM level access.

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 Metasploit Pro's metasploitPostgreSQL service starts postgres.exe which loads an OpenSSL configuration file from a static, writable location. A pre-existing 'vagrant' user can plant a crafted openssl.cnf file to achieve arbitrary command execution with SYSTEM privileges, enabling full host compromise.

MitigationRemove or restrict write access to the OpenSSL config file location used by the postgres service, or modify Metasploit to use a secure, non-writable location for the openssl.cnf file. Ensure the 'vagrant' user does not exist or lacks filesystem permissions to the config path.

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

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
Authentication
X
User interaction
None
Scope
X

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:L/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:P/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

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. Verify Metasploit Pro is installed
    Check for Metasploit Pro installation directory (commonly C:\Metasploit or /opt/metasploit) and locate the postgres.exe service binary
    Affected if Metasploit Pro with postgres.exe is present on the system
  2. Confirm the vagrant user account exists
    Check system for a user account named 'vagrant' using 'net user vagrant' on Windows or 'id vagrant' on Linux
    Affected if A vagrant user account exists on the system
  3. Identify the OpenSSL config path used by metasploitPostgreSQL
    Run 'sc qc metasploitPostgreSQL' to view service configuration, then inspect the postgres.exe process environment for OPENSSL_CONF variable or check Metasploit configuration files for the openssl.cnf path
    Affected if The service uses a static, writable path for openssl.cnf
  4. Verify write permissions on the OpenSSL config directory
    Check file system permissions on the identified openssl.cnf directory using 'icacls' on Windows or 'ls -la' on Linux
    Affected if The vagrant user or standard users have write access to the directory containing openssl.cnf
  5. Check if metasploitPostgreSQL service is running
    Run 'sc query metasploitPostgreSQL' to check service status
    Affected if The metasploitPostgreSQL service is installed and running

A user is affected if Metasploit Pro is installed with the metasploitPostgreSQL service, a vagrant user account exists, and the OpenSSL configuration directory is writable by that user.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Remove or restrict write access to the OpenSSL config file location used by the postgres service, or modify Metasploit to use a secure, non-writable location for the openssl.cnf file. Ensure the 'vagrant' user does not exist or lacks filesystem permissions to the config path.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2026-7373 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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