GHSA-q5f4-99jv-pgg5 — n8n
CRITICALGHSA-q5f4-99jv-pgg5 is a critical-severity (CVSS 10) CWE-1321 vulnerability in n8n. A fix is available for n8n — see the affected versions and patch details below.
n8n has Prototype Pollution in XML Webhook Body Parser that Leads to RCE
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- 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-q5f4-99jv-pgg5.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-q5f4-99jv-pgg5 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 379,842 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
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
A flaw in the xml2js library used to parse XML request bodies in n8n's webhook handler allowed prototype pollution via a crafted XML payload. An authenticated user with permission to create or modify workflows could exploit this to pollute the JavaScript object prototype and, by chaining the pollution with the Git node's SSH operations, achieve remote code execution on the n8n host.
Patches
The issue has been fixed in n8n versions 1.123.32, 2.17.4, and 2.18.1. 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.
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:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | n8n | all versions | 1.123.32npm install n8n@1.123.32 |
| 📦npm | n8n | ≥ 2.18.0&&< 2.18.1 | 2.18.1npm install n8n@2.18.1 |
| 📦npm | n8n | ≥ 2.17.0&&< 2.17.4 | 2.17.4npm install n8n@2.17.4 |
Affected Products
n8nn8nDetection & 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 1.123.32 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-q5f4-99jv-pgg5 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-q5f4-99jv-pgg5 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.