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27 n8n security fixes in October: three questions for whoever runs yours

Published · n8n, security, automation, smb

In short: in October 2026 n8n published 27 security advisories, 15 on 14 October and 12 on 28 October. None is rated critical; 7 are rated high. Six of the seven high ones need someone who already has an account on your n8n; the seventh, in the Edit Image node, is triggered by processing untrusted images, for example from an open webhook. So besides “are we up to date?”, ask “who can log in?”. On n8n Cloud, n8n updates your instance itself. If you host n8n yourself, the update is your job.

Three questions for whoever runs your n8n

  1. Which n8n version are we on? On the stable track it should be 2.45.5 or later, on beta 2.46.1 or later.
  2. Who has an account that can create or edit workflows, and does each of them still need it?
  3. Do any of our workflows still use the old Function or Function Item nodes, the Edit Image node, or a Slack, Asana or Chat trigger?

A good answer has a version number, a list of names and a yes or no on the nodes. “We’re on the cloud, it’s fine” answers only the first question.

What was published

n8n is the tool many small companies use to connect their apps: a web form that writes into a spreadsheet, a paid invoice that sends an email. It runs either on n8n’s own servers (n8n Cloud) or on a server you run yourself (self-hosted).

Since 13 May 2026, n8n publishes its security advisories every two weeks, on a Wednesday, and notifies straight away when a critical issue can’t wait. In October that meant two batches:

  • 14 October: 15 advisories, 4 high and 11 medium;
  • 28 October: 12 advisories, 3 high and 9 medium.

None has a CVE number yet. The scores use CVSS 4.0; the highest is 8.7 out of 10.

That 8.7 concerns three old code nodes: Function, Function Item and LangChain Code. In n8n’s words, a user with permission to create or modify workflows “could use these nodes to execute arbitrary code in the n8n main process”. Another one, rated 7.7, lets the same kind of user escape the isolation around workflow expressions and run code on the n8n server.

Why access matters as much as the version

Six of the seven high advisories require a logged-in n8n user who can create or edit workflows. The seventh, on the Edit Image node, concerns untrusted images: among its workarounds, n8n lists switching off any workflow where an unauthenticated Webhook node feeds Edit Image. Six of the seven give the same workaround: “Restrict n8n instance access to fully trusted users only.” The code-nodes advisory says to limit workflow creation and editing to fully trusted users.

For a small company this is concrete. The account of someone who left, the agency that built the first workflows two years ago, the shared “admin” login: on an unpatched version, each of them can reach further than you would expect.

Some that need no login

Some of the 20 medium advisories can be triggered from outside, with no login:

  • Asana Trigger: “An unauthenticated attacker who knows the webhook URL could replace the secret” and send forged Asana events that pass verification.
  • Slack Trigger: when the Slack credential has no signing secret, a caller who knows the address could have the Slack token sent to a server of their choice.
  • Chat Trigger, embedded mode with n8n User Auth: some requests went through without authentication.
  • MCP OAuth registration: these endpoints are on by default and need no login. Anyone could make your n8n send a visitor on to another site; n8n states that “No tokens or session data were included in the redirect.”

If one of your workflows starts with one of these triggers, check that one first.

Cloud or self-hosted: who updates

n8n Cloud. The documentation says n8n “upgrades every instance at least every two weeks, so security fixes reach everyone”. The owner can pick a faster cadence, the track (stable or beta) and the maintenance window in the Cloud console, whose Overview shows the version. That is the limit n8n states between automatic upgrades; the maintenance window you set decides when each one is applied. To get every release as it ships, choose “Every new release”: on average one release a day, each upgrade with one to two minutes of downtime. For mission-critical workloads n8n recommends the Stable track.

Self-hosted. The update is yours. For the 28 October batch you need 2.45.5 or later on the stable track (on 30 October the current stable release is 2.45.7) or 2.46.1 or later on beta. n8n’s own docs say: “Try to update at least once a month.” With a batch every two weeks, a monthly update can leave you two batches behind.

Two traps:

  • The 1.x line. Six of the 12 advisories of 28 October list no fix for 1.x. If you are still on 1.x, plan the move to 2.x.
  • n8n 3.0. Version 3.0.1 contains the fixes, but n8n calls 3.0 an “early access” release, published as a pre-release and not on npm. A new major version brings its own changes; this batch’s fixes are already on the stable 2.x track, from 2.45.5.

One more detail on the old code nodes. After the fix, n8n refuses to save a workflow that adds or changes one of them, but “workflows already saved with these nodes continue to run unchanged”. The update does not remove them for you: replace them with the current Code node.

What I checked on my own n8n

I run Mimir Lab’s automations on n8n Cloud. On 30 October I checked the 21 workflows on the instance. None uses the old Function nodes, Edit Image, Read/Write Files, the Slack, Asana or Chat triggers, MongoDB or NocoDB. The instance has one user: me. For me, that closes the untrusted-account path, and the nodes named in the advisories are not in use.

The bigger point

Two batches a month is the rhythm n8n has set. If it holds, the next batch lands on Wednesday 11 November; that date is my extrapolation, n8n has not announced it. Nobody in a small company needs to read every advisory. Someone needs to know three things at any moment: which version, who has access, which nodes.

If you don’t know who looks after your n8n or how to read the answers, there is the free first meeting, 30 minutes: tell me the situation and I’ll tell you where to start.

This article is also available in Italian.

Sources

Checked on 30 October 2026.

https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n/security/advisories

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