n8n-mcp's IPv4-mapped IPv6 addresses bypass SSRF protection in validateUrlSync(), enabling full SSRF for SDK embedders

Description

Impact

In the SDK embedder path (N8NDocumentationMCPServer constructor, getN8nApiClient(), and validateInstanceContext()), the synchronous URL validator in SSRFProtection.validateUrlSync() had no IPv6 checks. IPv4-mapped IPv6 addresses such as http://[::ffff:169.254.169.254] bypassed the cloud-metadata, localhost, and private-IP range checks. An attacker able to supply an n8nApiUrl value could cause the server to issue HTTP requests to cloud metadata endpoints (AWS IMDS, GCP, Azure, Alibaba, Oracle), RFC1918 private networks, or localhost services. Response bodies are returned to the caller (non-blind SSRF), and the n8nApiKey is forwarded in the x-n8n-api-key header to the attacker-controlled target.

The first-party HTTP server deployment was not primarily affected — it has a second async validator (validateWebhookUrl) that catches IPv6 addresses.

Impact category: CWE-918 (Server-Side Request Forgery).

Affected

Deployments embedding n8n-mcp as an SDK using N8NDocumentationMCPServer or N8NMCPEngine with user-supplied InstanceContext on versions v2.47.4 through v2.47.13.

Patched

v2.47.14 and later.

  • npm: npx n8n-mcp@latest (or pin to >= 2.47.14)
  • Docker: docker pull ghcr.io/czlonkowski/n8n-mcp:latest

Workarounds

If developers cannot upgrade immediately:

  • Validate URLs before passing to the SDK — reject any n8nApiUrl whose hostname is an IP literal (bracketed IPv6 or dotted IPv4) before calling N8NDocumentationMCPServer / getN8nApiClient(). Accept only URLs with DNS-resolvable hostnames.
  • Restrict egress at the network layer — block outbound traffic from the n8n-mcp process to RFC1918 ranges (10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16), link-local 169.254.0.0/16, and cloud metadata endpoints. Defense-in-depth against this class of issue and recommended even after upgrading.
  • Do not accept user-controlled n8nApiUrl values — if the project's integration derives the URL from internal configuration only, this vulnerability is not reachable.

Upgrading to v2.47.14 is still strongly recommended.

Credit

Reported by @manthanghasadiya.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
high
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2026-04-30 18:12:54 UTC
Updated
2026-05-11 13:29:49 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2026-04-30 18:12:54 UTC
NVD published
2026-05-07

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.03% 8.08%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
8.5 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

Identifiers

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-918 Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)

Credits

  • manthanghasadiya (reporter)

Affected packages (1)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
npm n8n-mcp >= 2.47.4, < 2.47.14 2.47.14

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence