A workflow editor can break out of n8n’s expression sandbox and run commands as the n8n service account, so the compromise is not stuck in the UI. The real issue is process-level access: once that boundary falls, the server can expose stored secrets and reach into connected systems from the same runtime.
n8n patched the flaw in 2.31.5 and 2.32.1 after Security Joes found it while checking the February fix for CVE-2026-27577. The affected ranges are <2.31.5 and >=2.32.0,<2.32.1, and the advisory says restricting instance access and workflow editing to fully trusted users is only a temporary control.
This is the second escape found in the sandbox’s identifier-rewriting layer. That makes the bypass path look recurring, not accidental, and raises the chance that other expression cases can still cross from workflow logic into the Node.js runtime.