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CVE-2025-48868VulnerabilityPublished

CVE-2025-48868: horilla · Eval Injection

Affects horillaSource CVE Database V5

0

Not known to be exploited · public exploit available (Exploit-DB) · CVSS 7.2 High · fixed in 1.3.1 : patch horilla as a priority.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
7.2High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
2.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 84% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch
Available – fixed in 1.3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

t = 0 is the CVE’s publication on cve.org

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 24 Sep 2025

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  4. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

Timeline

  1. CVE ID reserved

    by GitHub_M

    , 120 days before disclosure

  2. CVE published

    on cve.org

    , t = 0

  3. In Threat Radar

    record ingested

    , 3 minutes after disclosure

  4. , 196 days after disclosure

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-25.

What to do

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
horilla-opensource horillaAffected
  • =1.3.0
Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Organizations using Horilla 1.3.0 should immediately upgrade to version 1.3.1 or later, where this vulnerability is patched. Beyond patching, it is critical to enforce strict access controls and monitor privileged user activities to detect any anomalous behavior. Disabling Django's DEBUG mode in production environments is essential to reduce information leakage during exploitation attempts. Implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) for administrator accounts can reduce the risk of credential compromise. Additionally, network segmentation should be employed to isolate HRMS servers from other critical infrastructure, limiting lateral movement opportunities. Regular security audits and code reviews focusing on the use of dynamic code evaluation functions like eval() can prevent similar vulnerabilities. Finally, deploying intrusion detection systems (IDS) and endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions can help identify exploitation attempts, especially blind payloads such as reverse shells.

Description

Horilla is a free and open source Human Resource Management System (HRMS). An authenticated Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability exists in Horilla 1.3.0 due to the unsafe use of Python’s eval() function on a user-controlled query parameter in the project_bulk_archive view. This allows privileged users (e.g., administrators) to execute arbitrary system commands on the server. While having Django’s DEBUG=True makes exploitation visibly easier by returning command output in the HTTP response, this is not required. The vulnerability can still be exploited in DEBUG=False mode by using blind payloads such as a reverse shell, leading to full remote code execution. This issue has been patched in version 1.3.1.

References

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