Vulnerability · Published Sep 8, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M

CVE-2026-86996n8n: Agent Workflow Tool Bypasses Sub-Workflow Caller Policy

Medium 5.3

In plain English

A medium-severity missing authorization in n8n from n8n-io. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.3% (higher than 22% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 4.0)5.3Medium

Exploit odds (30 days)0.3%top 77.8% of all CVEs

Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none

Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

n8n is an open source workflow automation platform. Prior to 2.37.7 and 2.38.2, the workflow setting named This workflow can be called by was enforced by the Execute Workflow node but not when a workflow was attached to an Agent as a tool. A user able to build an Agent could invoke a restricted workflow and read its returned data. The affected path is packages/cli/src/modules/agents/tools/workflow-tool-factory.ts, where executeWorkflow omitted SubworkflowPolicyChecker.checkForProject. This issue is fixed in versions 2.37.7 and 2.38.2.

Affected packages & fixed versions

Ecosystem	Package	Fixed in	Advisory
npm	n8n	2.38.2	GHSA-7hgx-277f-7vmg
npm	n8n	2.37.7	GHSA-7hgx-277f-7vmg

Affected products (as reported)

Vendor	Product	Versions
n8n-io	n8n	< 2.37.7>= 2.38.0, < 2.38.2

Weakness: CWE-862 · Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N

References

https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n/security/advisories/GHSA-7hgx-277f-7vmg x_refsource_CONFIRM
https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n/releases/tag/n8n@2.37.7 x_refsource_MISC
https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n/releases/tag/n8n@2.38.2 x_refsource_MISC