CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2026-24038 — Horilla is a free and open source Human Resource Management System (HRMS)

High CVSS 8.1

Horilla is a free and open source Human Resource Management System (HRMS). In version 1.4.0, the OTP handling logic has a flawed equality check that can be bypassed. When an OTP expires, the server returns None, and if an attacker omits the otp field from their POST request, the user-supplied OTP is also None, causing the comparison user_otp == otp to pass. This allows an attacker to bypass two-factor authentication entirely without ever providing a valid OTP. If administrative accounts are targeted, it could lead to compromise of sensitive HR data, manipulation of employee records, and further system-wide abuse. This issue has been fixed in version 1.5.0.

Severity
High
CVSS
8.1 (3.1)
Published
2026-01-22
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-287

Affected products

  • horilla / horilla / 1.4.0

Matched remediation archetype

Authentication bypass and missing authentication

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Map every affected endpoint and protocol path, including alternate ports, legacy routes, recovery flows, service accounts, and machine-to-machine access.
  • Confirm which deployments enable the affected authentication mode and whether the interface is reachable from untrusted networks.
  • Review session, token, credential, and proxy trust configuration without attempting account takeover.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and centralize fail-closed authentication before protected request handling.
  • Remove default or embedded credentials, rotate affected secrets and sessions, and bind authentication decisions to the intended audience and channel.
  • Add negative tests for alternate routes, malformed or absent credentials, recovery flows, and proxy-derived identity.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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