# CVE-2024-12138: horilla create_skills deserialization

> Remote attackers can exploit unsafe deserialization in Horilla HRMS to execute arbitrary code, requiring immediate mitigation due to public exploit availability.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 4 Dec 2024
- **Updated:** 4 Dec 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-8j4v-284w-97cc

## What is CVE-2024-12138?

CVE-2024-12138 is a medium-severity unsafe deserialization vulnerability in horilla, published on 4 Dec 2024. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in horilla up to 1.2.1. This vulnerability affects the function request_new/get_employee_shift/create_reimbursement/key_result_current_value_update/create_meetings/create_skills. The manipulation leads to deserialization. The attack can be initiated remotely. The exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used. The vendor was contacted early about this disclosure but did not respond in any way.

Weakness: CWE-502 (Deserialization of Untrusted Data), CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-12138?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Horilla Horilla.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-12138?

No fix has been published for CVE-2024-12138 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2024-12138 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-12138 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in horilla

- [CVE-2025-59832](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-59832/): Horrila Stored XSS Vulnerability via Ticket Comment section (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2026-24010](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24010/): Horilla has HTML Injection Issue that, with Phishing, Leads to Account Takeover (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2026-24038](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24038/): Horilla HR has 2FA Bypass through its OTP Handling Logic (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2025-59524](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-59524/): Horilla Stored XSS Vulnerability via File Upload in Reimbursement Panel (high 7.7)
- [CVE-2025-59525](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-59525/): Horilla has Improper Input Sanitization Leading to XSS and Admin Account Takeover (high 7.7)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-12138 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-12138 is a medium-severity unsafe deserialization vulnerability in horilla, published on 4 Dec 2024. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-12138 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: horilla. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-12138/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-12138/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-12138
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-12138
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-12138

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-12138/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.