Vulnerability · Published Jul 15, 2026 · Assigned by VulnCheck

CVE-2026-59259n8n - Permission Bypass via Expression Parser Mismatch in External Secrets

Medium 6.0

In plain English

A medium-severity authorization bypass via user-controlled key in n8n from n8n. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.4% (higher than 38% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 4.0)6.0Medium

Exploit odds (30 days)0.4%top 61.8% of all CVEs

Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none

Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

n8n before versions 1.123.61, 2.27.4, and 2.28.1 contains a permission bypass vulnerability in external secrets handling caused by a mismatch between the static validation check and the runtime expression engine. An authenticated user with credential create or update permissions but without the externalSecret:list scope can embed external secret references into credentials in forms the static validation does not detect; these references resolve at workflow execution time, exposing secret values the user is not authorized to access. This issue only affects instances where an external secrets provider is configured and Advanced Permissions are in use.

Affected packages & fixed versions

Ecosystem	Package	Fixed in	Advisory
npm	n8n	1.123.61	GHSA-jp7m-xcgx-57qm
npm	n8n	2.28.1	GHSA-jp7m-xcgx-57qm
npm	n8n	2.27.4	GHSA-jp7m-xcgx-57qm

Affected products (as reported)

Vendor	Product	Versions
n8n	n8n	0 – before 1.123.61
n8n	n8n	2.28.0 – before 2.28.1
n8n	n8n	2.0.0-rc.0 – before 2.27.4

Weakness: CWE-639 · Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

References

GitHub Security Advisory (GHSA-jp7m-xcgx-57qm) vendor-advisory
VulnCheck Advisory: n8n - Permission Bypass via Expression Parser Mismatch in External Secrets third-party-advisory