Authentication Bypass in n8n via API Misconfiguration

Executive Summary

This vulnerability exists in n8n versions before 2.8.0 and involves an authentication bypass. Specifically, authenticated Single Sign-On (SSO) users can exploit the API to disable SSO enforcement. This allows attackers to create local password credentials, enabling them to authenticate directly without using the organization's SSO policies or the multi-factor authentication enforced by the identity provider.

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Impact Analysis

The vulnerability can impact you by allowing attackers to bypass your organization's SSO and multi-factor authentication controls. This means unauthorized users could gain direct access to your system using locally created credentials, potentially leading to unauthorized access and increased risk of compromise.

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Compliance Impact

The vulnerability allows authenticated SSO users to bypass Single Sign-On enforcement and create local password credentials, effectively circumventing organizational identity and access management policies, including multi-factor authentication.

This bypass can weaken security controls that are often required by compliance standards such as GDPR and HIPAA, which mandate strong access controls and authentication mechanisms to protect sensitive data.

By enabling attackers to authenticate directly without enforced SSO or multi-factor authentication, the vulnerability increases the risk of unauthorized access, potentially leading to non-compliance with these regulations.

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Mitigation Strategies

To mitigate the SSO enforcement bypass vulnerability in n8n, you should upgrade n8n to version 2.8.0 or later, as versions prior to 2.8.0 are affected.

This update addresses the issue that allows authenticated SSO users to disable SSO enforcement through the API and prevents attackers from creating local password credentials that bypass organizational SSO policies and multi-factor authentication.

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