CVE-2025-48868

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.

Score

CVSS 3.1 7.2 High

Status

Analyzed - security-advisories@github.com

Published

2025-09-24

Last modified

2025-09-24

Weaknesses

CWE-95

Affected products

• Horilla (Horilla)
• Horilla (Horilla-opensource)

References

• https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XQAJilt77QxkjGEa94CsZRqZIZXa3ET9/view?usp=sharing
• https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hnI9AK3fnpVrTlTRF7aRJsKhZCDIm2Ve/view?usp=sharing
• https://github.com/horilla-opensource/horilla/commit/b0aab62b3a5fe6b7114b5c58db129b3744b4d8cc
• https://github.com/horilla-opensource/horilla/security/advisories/GHSA-h6qj-pwmx-wjhw