CVE-2026-101006: Frappe HR Auth Bypass Vulnerability

CVE-2026-101006 Overview

CVE-2026-101006 is an incorrect authorization vulnerability in Frappe HR versions up to 16.15.0. The flaw resides in the get_expense_claims, get_shift_requests, and get_attendance_requests functions within hrms/api/__init__.py, which collectively form the Permission Validation component. Remote attackers can manipulate the employee argument to bypass authorization checks and access HR records belonging to other employees. The weakness is categorized under CWE-285: Improper Authorization. The vendor confirmed the issue was previously reported and fixed based on an earlier submission.

Critical Impact

Authenticated remote users can bypass permission validation to read expense claims, shift requests, and attendance records belonging to other employees in Frappe HR deployments.

Affected Products

• Frappe HR versions up to and including 16.15.0
• hrms/api/__init__.py module (Permission Validation component)
• HR API endpoints: get_expense_claims, get_shift_requests, get_attendance_requests

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-09-28 - CVE-2026-101006 published to NVD
• 2026-09-28 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-101006

Vulnerability Analysis

Frappe HR is an open-source human resources management application built on the Frappe framework. The vulnerable functions expose HR data through the application's API layer. Each function accepts an employee parameter that identifies the target record owner. The Permission Validation component fails to confirm whether the authenticated caller is authorized to view data for the supplied employee identifier.

An authenticated attacker can substitute any valid employee ID in requests to the affected endpoints. The server returns the requested expense claims, shift requests, or attendance records without verifying ownership or role-based access rights. This exposes payroll-adjacent data such as expense submissions, scheduling preferences, and attendance patterns.

The confidentiality impact is limited to data readable through these three endpoints. Integrity and availability are not affected by this flaw.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing or insufficient authorization logic inside get_expense_claims, get_shift_requests, and get_attendance_requests. The functions trust the user-supplied employee argument instead of binding queries to the session identity or validating that the caller holds the HR Manager role for the target record.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires network access to the Frappe HR instance and valid low-privileged credentials. The attacker calls the affected API methods with an arbitrary employee identifier and receives records they should not be able to read. No user interaction is required. The vulnerability does not grant write access or server-side code execution.

No verified proof-of-concept code is available. See the VulDB entry for CVE-2026-101006 and the associated VulDB vulnerability record #410876 for additional technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-101006

Indicators of Compromise

• API calls to /api/method/hrms.api.get_expense_claims, /api/method/hrms.api.get_shift_requests, or /api/method/hrms.api.get_attendance_requests where the employee parameter does not match the authenticated session's linked employee record.
• Repeated enumeration patterns across sequential or varied employee IDs from a single session.
• Low-privileged accounts generating higher-than-baseline volumes of HR record retrievals.

Detection Strategies

• Correlate the authenticated user's linked employee ID with the employee argument submitted in each HR API request and alert on mismatches.
• Review Frappe application logs for repeated 200-OK responses to the three affected endpoints originating from standard user roles rather than HR Manager roles.
• Deploy a web application firewall rule to flag API requests where the employee body parameter differs from the session owner.

Monitoring Recommendations

• Forward Frappe HR web and application logs to a centralized analytics platform for session-to-request correlation.
• Baseline normal API usage per user role and alert on deviations in call volume to the three affected methods.
• Audit HR Manager role assignments and periodically review which accounts invoke employee-scoped endpoints.

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-101006

Immediate Actions Required

• Upgrade Frappe HR to the fixed release published by the vendor after version 16.15.0; the maintainers confirmed the issue has been patched.
• Restrict network exposure of the Frappe HR API to trusted internal networks or VPN users until the upgrade is complete.
• Review HR data access logs for the three affected endpoints covering the period before patch deployment.

Patch Information

The Frappe HR maintainers stated: "This issue has already been reported by another individual, and based on that, we have fixed it." Administrators should apply the latest Frappe HR release available through the Frappe HR GitHub repository and verify the installed version is newer than 16.15.0. Consult the VulDB CVE-2026-101006 record for ongoing reference updates.

Workarounds

• Temporarily revoke HR module access for untrusted user roles until the patched version is deployed.
• Place a reverse proxy rule in front of the Frappe HR instance that rejects requests to the three affected methods when the employee parameter does not match the session user's employee record.
• Enable detailed audit logging on the HR module and monitor for anomalous cross-employee queries.

# Upgrade Frappe HR via the bench CLI
bench get-app --branch main hrms https://github.com/frappe/hrms
bench --site your-site.local install-app hrms
bench update --apps hrms
bench --site your-site.local migrate