# CVE-2026-24038: Horilla HR has 2FA Bypass through its OTP Handling Logic

> Attackers can bypass two-factor authentication in Horilla HRMS by omitting the OTP field, potentially compromising administrative accounts and sensitive HR data.

- **Severity:** High 8.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A: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:** 22 Jan 2026
- **Updated:** 22 Jan 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-hqpv-ff5v-3hwf

## What is CVE-2026-24038?

CVE-2026-24038 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in horilla-opensource horilla, published on 22 Jan 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Horilla is a free and open source Human Resource Management System (HRMS). In version 1.4.0, the OTP handling logic has a flawed equality check that can be bypassed. When an OTP expires, the server returns None, and if an attacker omits the otp field from their POST request, the user-supplied OTP is also None, causing the comparison user_otp == otp to pass. This allows an attacker to bypass two-factor authentication entirely without ever providing a valid OTP. If administrative accounts are targeted, it could lead to compromise of sensitive HR data, manipulation of employee records, and further system-wide abuse. This issue has been fixed in version 1.5.0.

Weakness: CWE-287 (Improper Authentication)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-24038?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Horilla Horilla.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-24038?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-24038 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-24038 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-24038 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in horilla-opensource 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-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)
- [CVE-2025-48869](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-48869/): Horilla Unauthorized Access to Candidate Resume Files Due to Broken Access Control (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-24038 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-24038 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in horilla-opensource horilla, published on 22 Jan 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-24038 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: horilla-opensource 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-2026-24038/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24038/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-24038
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-24038
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-24038

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24038/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.