Quantum Secular Labs / Blog / Advisories

CVE-2026-85165: N8n: Improper Neutralization of Directives in Dynamically Evaluated Code

CVE-2026-85165 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.9 and affects N8n. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without any user interaction. The scored impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability is the highest available.

Vulnerability description

n8n versions before 2.36.2 contain an expression sandbox bypass vulnerability where free identifiers in spread, computed-key, switch-case, or class-extension positions resolve against process globals. Authenticated users with workflow-edit permission can mutate host objects through expression evaluation, with changes persisting process-wide until restart.

Severity breakdown

CVSS v3.1 9.9: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

  • Attack vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network, with no need for local or physical access.
  • Attack complexity: Low. No special conditions; the attack can be repeated reliably.
  • Privileges required: Low. A basic user account is enough.
  • User interaction: None. No action from any user is needed.
  • Scope: Changed. Impact reaches beyond the vulnerable component to other resources.
  • Confidentiality impact: High. Total loss of confidentiality; sensitive data can be fully disclosed.
  • Integrity impact: High. Total loss of integrity; data or system state can be fully modified.
  • Availability impact: High. Total loss of availability; the component can be shut down.

Underlying weakness

CWE-95: Improper Neutralization of Directives in Dynamically Evaluated Code

The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes code syntax before using the input in a dynamic evaluation call (e.g. eval).

Affected products

  • N8n: before 2.35.4; from 2.36.0 up to and including 2.36.2

References