GHSA-9r8p-h6cc-6qhm
GHSA-9r8p-h6cc-6qhm is a CWE-312 vulnerability in n8n. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-9r8p-h6cc-6qhm is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
n8n: Google Service Account Private Key Exposed in JWT Header
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-9r8p-h6cc-6qhm.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
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
Impact
When n8n was configured with a Google Service Account key, the full PEM private key was mistakenly placed in the JWT header's kid field (which should only have held a key identifier). Since JWT headers were Base64-encoded rather than encrypted, the key could be recovered by anything that logged or inspected the JWT.
An attacker who obtained the key could impersonate the service account and access or modify any Google Cloud resource it was authorized to use.
Only instances using Google Service Account credentials are affected.
Patches
The issue has been fixed in n8n versions 1.123.64, 2.29.8, and 2.30.1. 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:
- Avoid using Google Service Account credentials until the instance is patched.
- Rotate any Google Service Account keys that may have been used with an affected n8n version.
- Review proxy, load balancer, and application logs for JWT headers that may contain exposed key material and treat any such keys as compromised.
These workarounds do not fully remediate the risk and should only be used as short-term mitigation measures.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | n8n | all versions | 1.123.64 |
| 📦npm | n8n | ≥ 2.30.0&&< 2.30.1 | 2.30.1 |
| 📦npm | n8n | ≥ 2.0.0-rc.0&&< 2.29.8 | 2.29.8 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for n8n. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update n8n to 1.123.64 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-9r8p-h6cc-6qhm is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-9r8p-h6cc-6qhm is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-9r8p-h6cc-6qhm. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-9r8p-h6cc-6qhm in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-9r8p-h6cc-6qhm across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.