CVE-2025-48868Horilla vulnerable to authenticated RCE via eval() in project_bulk_archive
- 7.2HighCVSS base score
- 2.5%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 15% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- 1Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
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.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list an Exploit-DB entry for it. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: a proof of concept is public.
Show the exploits1
Exploit-DB1 entry
- Horilla v1.3 - RCE (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 52497webapps, multiplepublished 8 Apr 2026Not verified
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By GitHub_M
- 4 months later
· 4 months later
Published
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub_MCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High7.2 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | High7.2 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 2.5% · top 15% of all CVEs (12 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: poc · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.2.
Affected products
- affected = 1.3.0
References
References4
- https://github.com/horilla-opensource/horilla/security/advisories/GHSA-h6qj-pwmx-wjhw (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/horilla-opensource/horilla/commit/b0aab62b3a5fe6b7114b5c58db129b3744b4d8cc (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XQAJilt77QxkjGEa94CsZRqZIZXa3ET9/view?usp=sharing (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hnI9AK3fnpVrTlTRF7aRJsKhZCDIm2Ve/view?usp=sharing (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2025-30970 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2025-48868)Record last updated .