Cross-Site Request Forgery in CodeAstro HR Management System 1.0

Executive Summary

CVE-2026-13537 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Department Deletion functionality of the CodeAstro Human Resource Management System (HRMS). The vulnerability exists in the Delete_dep endpoint within the Organization controller, which processes deletion requests without verifying if they were intentionally initiated by the authenticated user.

An attacker can exploit this by tricking an authenticated admin into sending a malicious request that deletes a department. This is possible because the application relies only on session authentication and does not enforce CSRF protections like unique tokens. The use of sequential and predictable department IDs makes it easier for attackers to target specific departments.

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Compliance Impact

The vulnerability allows unauthorized deletion of organizational data through a CSRF attack, which can lead to operational instability and loss of critical information.

Such unauthorized data manipulation could potentially impact compliance with standards and regulations that require data integrity and protection against unauthorized access or modification, such as GDPR and HIPAA.

However, the provided information does not explicitly detail the direct effects on compliance with these regulations.

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Detection Guidance

This vulnerability can be detected by monitoring for unauthorized POST requests to the endpoint hrsystem/organization/Delete_dep/<dep_id> that result in department deletions without proper CSRF token validation.

You can look for suspicious HTTP POST requests targeting the Delete_dep endpoint, especially those lacking CSRF tokens or originating from unexpected sources.

• Use network monitoring tools like tcpdump or Wireshark to capture HTTP traffic and filter for POST requests to the vulnerable endpoint.
• Example tcpdump command to capture relevant traffic: tcpdump -i any -A 'tcp port 80 and (((ip[2:2] - ((ip[0]&0xf)<<2)) - ((tcp[12]&0xf0)>>2)) != 0)' | grep 'POST /hrsystem/organization/Delete_dep/'
• Use web server logs to search for POST requests to /hrsystem/organization/Delete_dep/ and check if CSRF tokens are missing or if requests come from unusual referrers.

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Mitigation Strategies

Immediate mitigation steps include implementing server-side CSRF protection by validating unique tokens for all state-changing requests.

Avoid using simple URL parameters for destructive actions such as department deletion.

Add confirmation checks and enforce role-based access restrictions to ensure only authorized users can perform critical operations.

Additionally, educate users to avoid clicking on suspicious links or visiting untrusted websites while authenticated to the HRMS application.

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Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can lead to unauthorized deletion of departments within the HRMS application. Such unauthorized data deletion can disrupt the organizational structure and cause operational instability.

• Loss of important organizational data.
• Disruption of business operations due to unexpected department deletions.
• Potential administrative confusion and increased workload to restore deleted data.

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