Executive brief
n8n is a popular workflow automation platform, and its Git node allows users to perform Git operations (add, commit, checkout, pull) as part of automation workflows. A vulnerability in this node fails to neutralize certain Git configuration keys (content-filter and merge-driver), allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of the n8n process. An attacker with access to a Git repository used by n8n can exploit this to gain code execution on the server running n8n.
Technical details
The vulnerability is an OS command injection (CWE-78) resulting from incomplete neutralization of repository-local Git configuration. The Git node sanitizes a fixed list of command-bearing configuration keys before Git operations, but this list omits the content-filter and merge-driver key families. An attacker controlling a Git repository or its configuration can set these keys together with a matching gitattributes pattern to cause Git to execute an arbitrary command during ordinary operations (Add, Commit, Checkout, or Pull). The command executes with the privileges of the n8n process user. The attack requires n8n user privileges or access to a repository being processed by n8n. Patches are available in n8n versions 1.123.73, 2.35.4, and 2.36.2 and later.
Affected products
- n8n n8n before 1.123.73, 2.35.4, and 2.36.2
Timeline
- 2026-08-19: disclosed: GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-mwp5-2m32-r54h published
- 2026-09-03: advisory: CVE-2026-85168 published on NVD
- 2026-08-19: patched: Patches released in versions 1.123.73, 2.35.4, and 2.36.2