Overview
The CVE-2025-56265 vulnerability represents an arbitrary file upload exploit within three versions of N8N’s Chat Trigger component. This vulnerability is notable due to its potential to allow attackers to execute arbitrary code by uploading a crafted HTML file. The affected systems are at risk of compromise and potential data leakage, a significant threat to the security and integrity of the system and user data. Any organization utilizing the affected versions of the N8N software should be aware of this vulnerability and take immediate steps to address it.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-56265
Severity: High (8.8 CVSS Score)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: System Compromise, Data Leakage
Affected Products
Product | Affected Versions
N8N | v1.95.3
N8N | v1.100.1
N8N | v1.101.1
How the Exploit Works
The exploit takes advantage of the ability to upload arbitrary files in the Chat Trigger component of N8N. The attacker creates an HTML file with embedded malicious code. When this file is uploaded to the affected N8N versions, the system is tricked into executing the malicious code contained within the uploaded HTML file. This allows the attacker to control the system, potentially compromising it or causing data leakage.
Conceptual Example Code
The following pseudocode illustrates a conceptual example of how an attacker might exploit this vulnerability:
POST /chat_trigger/upload HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=----WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW
------WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="file"; filename="malicious.html"
Content-Type: text/html
<html>
<body>
<script>
// malicious code here
</script>
</body>
</html>
------WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW--Here, the malicious.html file contains a script that, when executed, may allow the attacker to compromise the system or cause data leakage.
