EUVD-2026-38485
GHSA-wrwr-h859-xh2r
Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Network-reachable web UI/API (AV:N), reliable prototype pollution chain (AC:L), requires workflow-editor account (PR:L), no second-user interaction (UI:N), RCE on host changes scope (S:C) with full CIA impact.
Primary rating from Vendor (https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n).
CVSS VectorVendor: https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Lifecycle Timeline
7DescriptionCVE.org
Impact
An authenticated user with permission to create or modify workflows could bypass the patch for GHSA-hqr4-h3xv-9m3r in the XML node. When combined with other nodes, this could lead to RCE on the n8n host.
Patches
The issue has been fixed in n8n versions 1.123.43, 2.20.7, and 2.22.1. Users should upgrade to one of these versions or later to remediate the vulnerability.
Workarounds
If upgrading is not immediately possible, administrators should consider the following temporary mitigations:
- Limit workflow creation and editing permissions to fully trusted users only.
- Disable the XML node by adding
n8n-nodes-base.xmlto theNODES_EXCLUDEenvironment variable.
These workarounds do not fully remediate the risk and should only be used as short-term mitigation measures.
--- n8n has adopted CVSS 4.0 as primary score for all security advisories. CVSS 3.1 vector strings are provided for backwards compatibility.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
AnalysisAI
Remote code execution in n8n workflow automation platform is possible via a prototype pollution patch bypass in the XML node, affecting versions prior to 1.123.43, 2.20.7, and 2.22.1. Authenticated users with workflow creation or modification permissions can bypass the prior fix for GHSA-hqr4-h3xv-9m3r and, by chaining the XML node with other nodes, achieve code execution on the n8n host. No public exploit identified at time of analysis, though EPSS is low (0.05%) suggesting limited near-term mass exploitation despite the high CVSS 4.0 score of 9.4.
Technical ContextAI
n8n is a popular open-source workflow automation platform distributed as the npm package n8n. The flaw is classified as CWE-1321 (Improperly Controlled Modification of Object Prototype Attributes, i.e. Prototype Pollution), a JavaScript-specific class of bug where attacker-controlled keys reach Object.prototype and pollute properties inherited by every object in the runtime. The vulnerability lives in n8n's built-in XML node (n8n-nodes-base.xml), which parses untrusted XML into JavaScript objects; an earlier patch for GHSA-hqr4-h3xv-9m3r blocked one pollution path, and this CVE represents an incomplete-fix bypass of that mitigation. Because n8n executes workflow logic in Node.js, polluted prototype properties can influence the behavior of subsequent nodes in the same workflow, which is how the bypass is escalated to remote code execution on the host process.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: upgrade to n8n 1.123.43, 2.20.7, or 2.22.1 (or any later release on those lines) as documented in advisory https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n/security/advisories/GHSA-wrwr-h859-xh2r. If immediate upgrade is not possible, restrict workflow create/edit permissions to a small set of fully trusted operators via n8n's RBAC, which removes the low-privilege attacker pool but breaks delegated workflow authoring and self-service automation use cases. As a second compensating control, disable the XML node entirely by adding n8n-nodes-base.xml to the NODES_EXCLUDE environment variable and restarting the instance; the trade-off is that any existing workflows depending on XML parsing will fail until refactored to use an alternative parser node. The vendor explicitly states these workarounds do not fully remediate the risk and should be treated as short-term mitigations only.
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External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today