Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessReach exposed Employee Endpoint
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ExploitForge role/EmpId/pfimg parameters
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ExecutionBypass authentication in session_start
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ImpactObtain privileged admin session
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A07:2025 - Authentication Failures
ASVS 5.0
V6 - Authentication Authentication mechanism validation
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Defense Evasion, Initial Access The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | No special conditions - remote unauthenticated exploitation against a default deployment of SourceCodester Human Resource Management System 1.0, by sending manipulated role/pfimg/EmpId parameters to the Employee Endpoint (controller/employee.php), where session_start improperly establishes the authenticated session. The only practical limiting factor is reachability: the target instance must be network-accessible to the attacker. No authentication, no user interaction, and no non-default configuration are required per the CVSS vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N). |
| Impact | Signals are mixed. The provided CVSS 4.0 vector (AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N) scores only 5.5 (medium) because NVD rates impact as low across the board (VC:L/VI:L/VA:L), and the E:P flag denotes proof-of-concept maturity rather than active exploitation. However, the primary reference (tracexlabs 'hrm-10-preauth-admin-takeover') explicitly claims a pre-authentication ADMIN TAKEOVER, which would justify high confidentiality and integrity impact - this directly conflicts with NVD's low impact rating and should be verified with the researcher/vendor. No EPSS score was supplied, so exploitation probability cannot be quantified. The CVE is NOT in CISA KEV, so there is no confirmed active exploitation; the accurate status is that publicly available exploit code exists (POC - confirmed both by the 'exploit has been made public' note and the E:P metric). No SSVC decision data (exploitation status, automatable, technical impact) was provided. Net read: the underlying weakness is serious (unauthenticated remote authentication bypass via parameter manipulation, CWE-287), but real-world priority is tempered by the product's negligible deployment footprint - a low-prevalence hobby/tutorial application - so despite POC availability this is more likely opportunistic scanning fodder than a widespread enterprise emergency. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote, unauthenticated attacker sends a crafted request to the Employee Endpoint (controller/employee.php), manipulating the role, pfimg, and/or EmpId parameters so that session_start establishes an authenticated session with elevated privileges, consistent with the referenced pre-auth admin-takeover write-up. A public exploit exists, lowering the skill barrier. Because no authentication or user interaction is required (PR:N/UI:N), any internet-reachable instance can be targeted directly. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Oct 13, 2026
Improper authentication in SourceCodester Human Resource Management System 1.0 lets remote, unauthenticated attackers forge an authenticated administrator session by supplying manipulated role, pfimg, and EmpId arguments to the session_start call in controller/employee.php, effectively achieving pre-authentication admin takeover. The exploit has been made public, so publicly available exploit code exists and can be reused against any reachable instance of this widely distributed PHP/MySQL demo application. Risk signals are mixed: the CNA assigned a moderate CVSS 4.0 base of 5.5 with exploit maturity E:P, while independent assessment rates the impact as High for both confidentiality and integrity on an unauthenticated network vector, meaning the practical severity is likely well above the published base score.
RemediationAI
No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis, and SourceCodester HRMS 1.0 is a freely distributed demo codebase with no established security-update channel, so remediation must be compensating rather than patch-based. The most effective control is to take the application off any network-reachable surface: bind it to localhost or an internal management VLAN, or front it with a reverse proxy that requires strong authentication and IP allow-listing - the trade-off being loss of legitimate remote access for HR staff. If it must stay exposed, block or reject requests to controller/employee.php that arrive without a pre-existing authenticated session, and refuse any request in which role, pfimg, or EmpId are supplied by an unauthenticated client; a WAF rule or proxy filter enforcing this is feasible but brittle because parameter names can be varied and legitimate authenticated calls use the same fields. Additional hardening includes regenerating the PHP session ID on every privilege transition (session_regenerate_id), enforcing server-side authorization that re-derives the user's role from the database rather than from request input, and adding CSRF tokens - all of which require code changes the vendor has not shipped. Given the public exploit, treat these as interim measures and plan to migrate the HRM function to a maintained platform. Consult https://tracexlabs.com/releases/hrm-10-preauth-admin-takeover.html for the exploit mechanics and https://vuldb.com/vuln/416791 for the advisory record; if a fix is later published, cite the exact version in a follow-up review.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
The root cause is CWE-287 (Improper Authentication). SourceCodester Human Resource Management System 1.0 is a PHP/MySQL web application; controller/employee.php calls session_start() and then populates session state from request-supplied parameters (role, pfimg, EmpId) without validating that the caller has actually authenticated. Because PHP sessions are the sole mechanism the application uses to track identity and privilege, an attacker who controls those parameters can cause the server to instantiate a session bearing whatever role value they choose - including an administrative one - and every downstream authorization check that trusts $_SESSION then passes. The issue sits in the Employee Endpoint component and is reachable over the network with no prior authentication. No CPE strings were supplied in the intelligence feed, so affected-product identification rests on the vendor's own product line; the CVSS 4.0 vector's E:P metric and the public TraceXLabs advisory titled 'hrm-10-preauth-admin-takeover' both corroborate that the flaw is demonstrable with released exploit code rather than theoretical.
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Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P
Unauthenticated remote auth bypass (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N); C:H/I:H reflect the referenced pre-auth admin takeover, A:N as no availability impact is described.
Primary rating from Vendor (vuldb).
CVSS VectorVendor: vuldb
DescriptionCVE.org
A vulnerability was found in SourceCodester Human Resource Management System 1.0. Affected by this vulnerability is the function session_start of the file controller/employee.php of the component Employee Endpoint. The manipulation of the argument role/pfimg/EmpId results in improper authentication. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. The exploit has been made public and could be used.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
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EUVD-2026-98301
GHSA-x3xj-rcj9-cf8f
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
VulDB
Exploit-DB