CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2020-7350 — Rapid7 Metasploit security vulnerability

High CVSS 7.8

Rapid7 Metasploit Framework versions before 5.0.85 suffers from an instance of CWE-78: OS Command Injection, wherein the libnotify plugin accepts untrusted user-supplied data via a remote computer's hostname or service name. An attacker can create a specially-crafted hostname or service name to be imported by Metasploit from a variety of sources and trigger a command injection on the operator's terminal. Note, only the Metasploit Framework and products that expose the plugin system is susceptible to this issue -- notably, this does not include Rapid7 Metasploit Pro. Also note, this vulnerability cannot be triggered through a normal scan operation -- the attacker would have to supply a file that is processed with the db_import command.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.8 (3.1)
Published
2020-04-22
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-78

Affected products

  • rapid7 / metasploit

Matched remediation archetype

Command, code, expression, and template injection

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Check exposure

  • Trace untrusted values to process execution, interpreters, evaluators, template engines, dynamic imports, and administrative scripting features.
  • Determine whether the affected path is reachable across each trust boundary and which service account or host privilege it inherits.
  • Review configuration for optional execution features, unsafe compatibility modes, and shell invocation.

Remediate safely

  • Replace string-built commands or evaluated code with fixed operations and structured argument APIs that do not invoke a shell.
  • Use strict allowlists for operation identifiers and reject unexpected input before it reaches any interpreter.
  • Update the affected component and add inert regression tests covering metacharacters, encoding variants, and alternate request paths.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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