CVE-2026-33663
Authorization Bypass in n8n Allows Credential Theft by Members
Publication date: 2026-03-25
Last updated on: 2026-03-31
Assigner: GitHub, Inc.
Description
Description
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
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Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| n8n | n8n | to 1.123.27 (exc) |
| n8n | n8n | From 2.0.0 (inc) to 2.13.3 (exc) |
| n8n | n8n | 2.14.0 |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-639 | The system's authorization functionality does not prevent one user from gaining access to another user's data or record by modifying the key value identifying the data. |
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
How does this vulnerability affect compliance with common standards and regulations (like GDPR, HIPAA)?:
CVE-2026-33663 allows an authenticated user with the global:member role to steal plaintext secrets from other users' generic HTTP credentials on the same n8n Community Edition instance. This exposure of sensitive credential data could lead to unauthorized access and misuse of personal or protected information.
Such unauthorized disclosure of sensitive credentials may impact compliance with common standards and regulations like GDPR and HIPAA, which require protection of personal and sensitive data against unauthorized access and breaches.
Organizations using vulnerable versions of n8n Community Edition should upgrade to patched versions or apply mitigations such as restricting instance access and rotating exposed credentials to reduce the risk of non-compliance due to this vulnerability.
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?
This vulnerability affects the open source workflow automation platform n8n prior to versions 2.14.1, 2.13.3, and 1.123.27. An authenticated user with the 'global:member' role can exploit chained authorization flaws in n8n's credential pipeline to steal plaintext secrets from generic HTTP credentials (such as httpBasicAuth, httpHeaderAuth, and httpQueryAuth) belonging to other users on the same instance.
The attack takes advantage of a name-based credential resolution path that does not enforce ownership or project scope, combined with a bypass in the credentials permission checker that skips generic HTTP credential types during pre-execution validation. This allows a member-role user to resolve another user's credential ID and execute a workflow that decrypts and uses that credential without proper authorization.
Native integration credential types like slackApi, openAiApi, and postgres are not affected by this issue. The vulnerability impacts only the Community Edition of n8n, as the Enterprise Edition has additional permission gates that block this attack chain.
The issue has been fixed in n8n versions 1.123.27, 2.13.3, and 2.14.1. Users are advised to upgrade to these versions or later to remediate the vulnerability.
How can this vulnerability impact me? :
This vulnerability allows an authenticated user with limited permissions (global:member role) to steal plaintext secrets from other users' generic HTTP credentials on the same n8n instance. This can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive information and potentially compromise workflows that rely on these credentials.
If exploited, attackers could misuse stolen credentials to impersonate other users, access protected resources, or manipulate workflows, leading to data breaches or disruption of automated processes.
Temporary mitigations include restricting instance access to fully trusted users and auditing and rotating any exposed generic HTTP credentials. However, these do not fully remediate the risk, so upgrading to a fixed version is strongly recommended.
What immediate steps should I take to mitigate this vulnerability?
To mitigate this vulnerability immediately, users should upgrade n8n to versions 1.123.27, 2.13.3, 2.14.1, or later where the issue is fixed.
If upgrading is not immediately possible, administrators should consider the following temporary mitigations:
- Restrict instance access to fully trusted users only.
- Audit credentials stored on the instance and rotate any generic HTTP credentials (httpBasicAuth, httpHeaderAuth, httpQueryAuth) that may have been exposed.
Note that these workarounds do not fully remediate the risk and should only be used as short-term mitigation measures.
How can this vulnerability be detected on my network or system? Can you suggest some commands?
This vulnerability involves an authenticated user with the global:member role exploiting authorization flaws in n8n's credential pipeline to steal plaintext secrets from generic HTTP credentials of other users. Detection involves monitoring for unauthorized workflow executions that access or decrypt generic HTTP credentials (httpBasicAuth, httpHeaderAuth, httpQueryAuth) without proper authorization.
Since the vulnerability is related to misuse of workflow executions and credential access within the n8n instance, detection can include auditing workflow execution logs for suspicious activity by users with the global:member role, especially workflows that access or use credentials belonging to other users.
There are no specific commands provided in the available resources to detect this vulnerability directly on the network or system.
As a general approach, administrators can:
- Review n8n workflow execution logs for unusual credential usage patterns.
- Audit user roles and permissions to ensure only trusted users have the global:member role.
- Rotate any generic HTTP credentials (httpBasicAuth, httpHeaderAuth, httpQueryAuth) that may have been exposed.
- Restrict instance access to fully trusted users only.