CVE-2026-65016
HIGH 7.7n8n versions before 1.123.64, 2.29.8, and 2.30.1 contain a privilege escalation vulnerability in Enterprise SSO instance-role provisioning. The provisioning path maps an IdP-asserted role claim to an n8n global role but does not prevent assignment of the global:owner role (unlike the token-exchange identity path, which rejects it). An SSO-authenticated user whose instance-role claim resolves to global:owner is provisioned as instance owner, gaining full administrative control over workflows, credentials, users, and instance configuration. Exploitation requires that Enterprise SSO is configured, instance-role provisioning is enabled via N8N_SSO_SCOPES_PROVISION_INSTANCE_ROLE (disabled by default), and the attacker controls the instance-role claim value issued by the IdP.
Severe if exploited (CVSS 7.7), but no known exploitation and low modeled probability. Patch on a normal cadence.
Exploitation likelihood
0.3%chance of exploitation in 30 days · 24th percentile
Impact if exploited
7.7CVSS 4.0 · HIGH
- ConfidentialityHigh
- IntegrityHigh
- AvailabilityHigh
What an attacker needs
- ✓Access: Reachable over the network — no local access needed
- ⚠Privileges: Requires a low-privilege account
- ✓User interaction: No user interaction needed
- ✓Complexity: No special conditions — reliably repeatable
- ⚠Requirements: Specific conditions must be present
✓ lowers the bar for an attacker · ⚠ raises it
Proof of concept & exploit code
- github-search Search GitHub for public PoC repos
Test against your own equipment
curl -s https://vulnpedia.com/cve/CVE-2026-65016/poc.jsonMachine-readable PoC index for this CVE (for automation).Listed for defensive triage, patch verification, and authorized testing on systems you own. Machine-readable: /cve/CVE-2026-65016/poc.json
Weakness (CWE)
- CWE-639: Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key
CVSS vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Known Affected Software Configurations
| Vendor | Product | Version range |
|---|---|---|
| N8n | N8n | < 1.123.64 |
| N8n | N8n | < 1.123.64 |
| N8n | N8n | ≥ 2.0.0 and < 2.29.8 |
| N8n | N8n | ≥ 2.0.0 and < 2.29.8 |
| N8n | N8n | 2.30.0 |
| N8n | N8n | 2.30.0 |
All CVSS metrics
- HIGH 7.7 v4.0 · CNA Primary
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - HIGH 7.7 v4.0 · NVD Secondary
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X - HIGH 8.8 v3.1 · NVD Primary
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H