Summary
n8n: Google Service Account Private Key Exposed in JWT Header
Workarounds
If upgrading is not immediately possible, administrators should consider the following temporary mitigations:
- Avoid using Google Service Account credentials until the instance is patched.
- Rotate any Google Service Account keys that may have been used with an affected n8n version.
- Review proxy, load balancer, and application logs for JWT headers that may contain exposed key material and treat any such keys as compromised.
These workarounds do not fully remediate the risk and should only be used as short-term mitigation measures.
Impact
When n8n was configured with a Google Service Account key, the full PEM private key was mistakenly placed in the JWT header's kid field (which should only have held a key identifier). Since JWT headers were Base64-encoded rather than encrypted, the key could be recovered by anything that logged or inspected the JWT.
An attacker who obtained the key could impersonate the service account and access or modify any Google Cloud resource it was authorized to use.
Only instances using Google Service Account credentials are affected.
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.
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The issue has been fixed in n8n versions 1.123.64, 2.29.8, and 2.30.1. Users should upgrade to one of these versions or later to remediate the vulnerability.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2026-65599? CVE-2026-65599 is a medium-severity security vulnerability in n8n (npm), affecting versions < 1.123.64. It is fixed in 1.123.64, 2.30.1, 2.29.8.
- Which versions of n8n are affected by CVE-2026-65599? n8n (npm) versions < 1.123.64 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2026-65599? Yes. CVE-2026-65599 is fixed in 1.123.64, 2.30.1, 2.29.8. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2026-65599 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-65599 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-2026-65599 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-2026-65599?
- Upgrade
n8nto 1.123.64 or later - Upgrade
n8nto 2.30.1 or later - Upgrade
n8nto 2.29.8 or later
- Upgrade