Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
A logged-in Rapid7 Nexpose Security Console user could access tickets they were not assigned to in the legacy ticketing feature. The business risk is inappropriate disclosure or manipulation of internal remediation workflow information, not unauthenticated compromise.
Executive priority
Treat this as a targeted access-control cleanup, not an emergency internet-scale issue. Prioritize upgrades where Nexpose has multiple users, sensitive ticket contents, or shared remediation workflows.
Technical view
Rapid7 Nexpose 6.6.95 and earlier allowed authenticated Security Console users to view and edit any legacy ticket regardless of assignment. The CVE is scored CVSS 3.1 4.3, network reachable with low privileges and low confidentiality impact. Rapid7 says it was fixed in 6.6.96 on August 4, 2021.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to organizations running Rapid7 Nexpose Security Console 6.6.95 or earlier, especially where legacy ticketing is used and more than one console user has access.
Exploitation context
The supplied sources do not show active exploitation, and the CVE is not listed as KEV. Abuse requires an authenticated Security Console user, so the practical threat is insider misuse or compromised low-privilege console credentials.
Researcher notes
The CVE describes assignment bypass in legacy ticketing. Although mapped to CWE-306, the described behavior is an authorization failure among authenticated users. The source bundle does not provide exploit details, affected CPEs, or compensating controls beyond the fixed version.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Rapid7 Nexpose Security Console to version 6.6.96 or later.
- Review Rapid7 release notes and vendor guidance for any follow-up recommendations.
- Restrict Security Console access to users with a clear operational need.
- Review legacy ticketing usage and remove unnecessary console accounts.
- Audit ticket access or edits where logs are available.
Validation and detection
- Confirm the deployed Nexpose Security Console version is above 6.6.95.
- Verify whether the legacy ticketing feature is enabled or still used.
- Review Security Console users, roles, and recent account changes.
- Check available logs for unexpected ticket views or edits.
- Confirm change records show the 6.6.96 update or later applied.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-306: Credential and account abuse lookup
Authentication and credential weaknesses can make valid-account abuse and credential telemetry useful review starting points. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-31868 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 4.3 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N2.81.4Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
4.3MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://docs.rapid7.com/release-notes/nexpose/20210804/CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Missing Authentication for Critical Function
Missing Authentication for Critical Function represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.