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📑 Table of Contents

🎯 Executive Summary
🐛 The Vulnerability
🔬 Technical Analysis
💀 Exploitation Walkthrough
💥 Impact Assessment
🔍 Detection & Response
🛡️ Mitigation Strategy
📚 References

🎯 Executive Summary

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CVE-2025-68613 is a critical remote code execution vulnerability in n8n's workflow automation platform that allows authenticated attackers to execute arbitrary system commands through expression injection.

⚡ Quick Stats

🔥 Metric	📊 Value
CVSS Score	9.9 / 10
Exposed Instances	103,476+
Attack Complexity	LOW
Auth Required	Yes (Low Priv)
User Interaction	None

🎯 Key Facts

📌 Property	📝 Value
Disclosed	Dec 18, 2025
Vector	Network (AV:N)
Scope	Changed
Impact	CIA = HIGH
Exploit Type	Expression Injection

🐛 The Vulnerability

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📋 CVE Overview

Property	Value
🆔 CVE ID	CVE-2025-68613
📊 CVSS Score	9.9 (Critical) 🔴
🔗 CVSS Vector	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`
🏷️ CWE	CWE-913 (Improper Control of Dynamically-Managed Code Resources)
📦 Affected Versions	0.211.0 → 1.120.3, 1.121.0
✅ Patched Versions	1.120.4, 1.121.1, 1.122.0+

🤖 What is n8n?

n8n is an open-source workflow automation platform enabling no-code/low-code integration across 400+ applications. It's widely deployed in:

🏢 Use Case	📝 Description
🔧 DevOps	Automation pipelines, CI/CD integrations
🛡️ Security Ops	SOAR workflows, incident response
💼 Business	Process automation, data workflows
📊 Data	ETL processes, API integrations

🔧 Technical Root Cause

🔓 VULNERABILITY CHAIN:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  📝 n8n Expression Language → Dynamic Data Handling            │
│                           ↓                                     │
│  ⚠️  Insufficient Sandbox Isolation in Server-Side Eval        │
│                           ↓                                     │
│  💀 Malicious Expression Escapes Sandbox                       │
│                           ↓                                     │
│  🖥️  Access to Node.js child_process Module                    │
│                           ↓                                     │
│  💥 FULL RCE - OS Command Execution                            │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

🔬 Technical Analysis

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🎯 Attack Surface

Prerequisites for Exploitation:

#	📋 Requirement	📝 Details
1️⃣	Authentication	Valid n8n user account (low-privilege sufficient)
2️⃣	Permissions	Workflow creation/editing capability
3️⃣	Network Access	Ability to reach n8n instance

⚔️ Attack Characteristics

🏷️ Attribute	📊 Value	🔥 Risk
Complexity	LOW (AC:L)	🔴 High
User Interaction	None Required	🔴 High
Scope	Changed	🔴 Critical

🗺️ Vulnerability Flow Diagram

graph TD
    A[🔐 Authenticated User] -->|Creates| B[📝 New Workflow]
    B -->|Injects| C[💀 Malicious Expression]
    C -->|Triggers| D[⚡ Expression Evaluation]
    D -->|Exploits| E[🔓 Sandbox Escape]
    E -->|Accesses| F[🖥️ Node.js Runtime]
    F -->|Executes| G[💥 OS Command via child_process]
    G -->|Achieves| H[☠️ FULL SERVER COMPROMISE]
    
    style A fill:#4CAF50,color:#fff
    style C fill:#ff9800,color:#fff
    style E fill:#f44336,color:#fff
    style H fill:#9c27b0,color:#fff

💀 Exploitation Walkthrough

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⚠️ DISCLAIMER: The following is for educational purposes only. Unauthorized exploitation is illegal.

📸 Step-by-Step Exploitation Screenshots

🖥️ Step 1: Access n8n Instance

Initial access to vulnerable n8n workflow automation platform.

n8n Welcome Screen
🔓 n8n Welcome Dashboard - Entry Point

➕ Step 2: Create New Workflow

Create a new workflow that will contain the malicious payload.

New Workflow Creation
📝 Creating new workflow with "Add first step"

⚡ Step 3: Add Manual Trigger

Configure workflow trigger - Manual Trigger allows on-demand execution.

CVE-2025-68613-n8n-rce-analysis

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