Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Horilla HRMS 1.4.0 has a two-factor authentication flaw that can let a logged-in attacker bypass OTP verification. If an administrator is targeted, HR records and sensitive employee data could be exposed or altered. The vendor advisory says the issue is fixed in version 1.5.0.
Executive priority
Treat as high priority for any organization using Horilla for HR data. Patch promptly because successful abuse could compromise sensitive employee information and allow unauthorized record changes.
Technical view
The flaw is an authentication weakness in Horilla’s OTP handling. When an OTP expires, the server-side value can become None; if the submitted OTP field is also absent, the equality check can succeed. CVSS is 8.1, network exploitable, low complexity, and requires low privileges.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to Horilla deployments running versions >= 1.4.0 and < 1.5.0, especially where 2FA protects privileged HRMS accounts. The attacker appears to need valid primary authentication before bypassing OTP.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation. The vulnerability is still serious because it weakens a key account-protection control and affects sensitive HR systems.
Researcher notes
Evidence comes from the CVE record and GitHub advisory. The advisory identifies CWE-287 and a specific flawed equality comparison in OTP handling. Do not assume broader versions, exploit activity, or alternate mitigations beyond the cited sources.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Horilla to version 1.5.0 or later.
- Review the GitHub security advisory and release notes before deployment.
- Prioritize administrator and HR-privileged accounts during remediation.
- If immediate upgrade is delayed, check vendor guidance for interim controls.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Horilla instances and record deployed versions.
- Confirm affected systems are not running >= 1.4.0 and < 1.5.0.
- Verify production systems are upgraded to 1.5.0 or later.
- Review authentication logs for unusual successful 2FA events on privileged accounts.
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-287: 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-2026-24038 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
- High
- CVSS
- 8.1 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:H/I:H/A:N2.85.2Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
8.1HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://github.com/horilla-opensource/horilla/security/advisories/GHSA-hqpv-ff5v-3hwfCVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/horilla-opensource/horilla/releases/tag/1.5.0CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
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.
Improper Authentication
Improper Authentication represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.