Improper Access ControlWeakness · CWE-284

CVE-2026-40867

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, a broken access control vulnerability in the helpdesk attachment viewer allows any authenticated user to view attachments from other tickets by changing the attachment ID. This can expose sensitive support files and internal documents across unrelated users or teams.

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 · moderate confidence

Horilla HRMS 1.5.0 contains an Insecure Direct Object Reference (IDOR) vulnerability in the helpdesk attachment viewer. The application fails to validate whether the authenticated user has legitimate access to a specific attachment before serving it, allowing attackers to enumerate attachment IDs and access sensitive support files from tickets belonging to other users or teams.

MitigationImplement proper authorization checks in the attachment viewer endpoint to verify the requesting user owns or has permission to access the specific ticket/attachment before returning any file content.

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 installation and version
    Locate the installed Horilla HRMS instance and check the version number. Typically found in the application dashboard, about page, or in version files within the installation directory. Compare against affected version 1.5.0.
    Affected if Horilla HRMS version 1.5.0 is installed and running
  2. Verify helpdesk module is enabled
    Check if the helpdesk module is active in the Horilla HRMS installation. This can be done by accessing the module configuration panel or checking the enabled applications in the Django settings file if self-hosted.
    Affected if Helpdesk module is installed and accessible to users
  3. Identify the attachment viewer endpoint
    Locate the helpdesk attachment viewer URL endpoint. Common patterns include paths like /helpdesk/attachment/<id>/view/ or similar. Check the application's URL routing configuration for helpdesk-related attachment view paths.
    Affected if The helpdesk attachment viewer endpoint exists and is accessible via web
  4. Test attachment access without authorization
    Using a browser or HTTP client, attempt to access an attachment by modifying the attachment ID in the viewer endpoint. Try accessing attachment IDs that you do not own or that belong to other users or teams to verify if the application returns the file without authorization checks.
    Affected if The application serves attachment files without validating user ownership or permissions

If running Horilla HRMS 1.5.0 with the helpdesk module enabled, the environment is affected if the attachment viewer returns files for arbitrary attachment IDs without checking user permissions.

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 authorization checks in the attachment viewer endpoint to verify the requesting user owns or has permission to access the specific ticket/attachment before returning any file content.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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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-2026-40867 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

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