dbcve.org
Improper Access ControlWeakness · CWE-284

CVE-2026-40865

HIGH · 7.1 CVSS v4.0 Published 2026-04-21
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Horilla is a free and open source Human Resource Management System (HRMS). In 1.5.0, an insecure direct object reference in the employee document viewer allows any authenticated user to access other employees’ uploaded documents by changing the document ID in the request. This exposes sensitive HR files such as identity documents, contracts, certificates, and other private employee records.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Horilla HRMS 1.5.0 contains an Insecure Direct Object Reference (IDOR) vulnerability in the employee document viewer. The application uses document IDs directly to retrieve files without verifying that the authenticated user has authorization to access those specific documents. Any authenticated user can manipulate document IDs in requests to view sensitive HR documents belonging to other employees, including identity documents, contracts, and certificates.

MitigationImplement proper object-level authorization checks in the document viewer endpoint to verify the requesting user owns or has permission to access the requested document before serving it. Additionally, consider using indirect references (mapping internal IDs to random tokens) and logging access attempts for security monitoring.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
Authentication
X
User interaction
None
Scope
X

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Horilla HRMS version
    Check the installed Horilla HRMS version (typically found in the application footer, settings/about page, or via package/version detection in the deployment environment). Compare against the affected version 1.5.0.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 1.5.0
  2. Verify document viewer module is active
    Check if the employee document management feature is enabled in the Horilla HRMS instance. Look for document upload/document viewer functionality in the HR employee profile sections.
    Affected if The document viewer module is accessible and in use
  3. Check for multiple employee records with documents
    Review the database or application to confirm there are multiple employee records that have uploaded documents (identity documents, contracts, certificates).
    Affected if Multiple employee records with associated documents exist in the system
  4. Identify document retrieval endpoint
    Inspect application traffic or code to locate the document viewer endpoint that serves files using direct document IDs (typically a URL pattern containing a document ID parameter).
    Affected if The application uses direct document IDs in URL parameters without indirect references
  5. Test authorization on document access
    Using two different authenticated user accounts, attempt to access a document belonging to the other user by manipulating the document ID parameter in the document viewer request.
    Affected if User A can successfully retrieve User B's documents by changing the document ID in the request

Your environment is affected if Horilla HRMS version 1.5.0 is installed, the document viewer module is active, and unauthenticated or unauthorized users can access documents belonging to other employees by manipulating document IDs.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement proper object-level authorization checks in the document viewer endpoint to verify the requesting user owns or has permission to access the requested document before serving it. Additionally, consider using indirect references (mapping internal IDs to random tokens) and logging access attempts for security monitoring.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-40865 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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