Summary
n8n Vulnerable to Command Injection in Community Package Installation
Impact
A Command Injection vulnerability was identified in n8n’s community package installation functionality. The issue allowed authenticated users with administrative permissions to execute arbitrary system commands on the n8n host under specific conditions.
Important context
- Exploitation requires administrative access to the n8n instance.
- The affected functionality is restricted to trusted users who are already permitted to install third-party community packages.
- No unauthenticated or low-privilege exploitation is possible.
- There is no evidence of exploitation in the wild.
Because administrative users can already extend n8n with custom or community code, the vulnerability does not meaningfully expand the threat model beyond existing administrator capabilities. However, it represents a violation of secure coding practices and has therefore been addressed.
The application does not adequately validate input before processing it, allowing unexpected values to reach sensitive code paths. Typical impact: varies by context: data corruption, logic bypass, or denial of service.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
Remediation advice
Users are advised to upgrade to n8n version 1.120.3 or later, which fully resolves the issue.
As a general security best practice, n8n instance owners should ensure that:
- Administrative access is limited to trusted users only.
- Community packages are installed only from trusted sources.
- Instances are kept up to date with the latest security releases.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2026-21893? CVE-2026-21893 is a critical-severity improper input validation vulnerability in n8n (npm), affecting versions >= 0.187.0, < 1.120.3. It is fixed in 1.120.3. The application does not adequately validate input before processing it, allowing unexpected values to reach sensitive code paths.
- Which versions of n8n are affected by CVE-2026-21893? n8n (npm) versions >= 0.187.0, < 1.120.3 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2026-21893? Yes. CVE-2026-21893 is fixed in 1.120.3. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2026-21893 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-21893 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2026-21893 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2026-21893? Upgrade
n8nto 1.120.3 or later.