n8n Has External Secrets Authorization Bypass in Credential Saving
Impact
An authenticated user without permission to list external secrets could reference a secret by the external name in a credential and retrieve its plaintext value when saving the credential. This bypassed the externalSecret:list permission check and allowed access to secrets stored in connected vaults without admin or owner privileges.
- This issue requires the instance to have an external secrets vault configured.
- The attacker must know or be able to guess the name of a target secret.
Patches
The issue has been fixed in n8n versions 1.123.23 and 2.6.4. 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:
- Restrict n8n access to fully trusted users only.
- Disable external secrets integration until the patch can be applied.
These workarounds do not fully remediate the risk and should only be used as short-term mitigation measures.
Affected software
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| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| npm package | n8n | < 1.123.23, >= 2.0.0-rc.0, < 2.6.4 | 1.123.23, 2.6.4 |
References
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-863- Platform
- npm
- Package
n8n- Disclosed
- 25.03.2026
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 10:22
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-fxcw-h3qj-8m8p - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: n8n
All published vulnerabilities of this package (npm package), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 156
- First → latest
- 05.2023 09.2026
- Without a fix
- 1
- Exploited in attacks
- 1
Severity breakdown
- Critical 24
- High 58
- Medium 74
Disclosures per year
- 2023: 3
- 2024: 0
- 2025: 14
- 2026: 139
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