CVE-2023-27562 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) Path Traversal vulnerability in n8n. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for n8n — see the affected versions and patch details below.
n8n Directory Traversal vulnerability
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2023-27562.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
n8nnpmDescription
The n8n package prior to version 0.216.1 for Node.js allows Directory Traversal.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | n8n | all versions | 0.216.1npm install n8n@0.216.1 |
Affected Products
n8nn8nResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for n8n, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update n8n to 0.216.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-27562 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Resolve every user-supplied path to its canonical form and reject anything that escapes the intended directory, and run the component under an account that has no read or write access outside the directory it legitimately serves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-27562 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.