Gate validation on severe tooling advisories

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ npm run lint
 npm run typecheck
 npm test
 npm audit --omit=dev
+npm audit --audit-level=high
 npm run check-package
 git diff --check
 ```
@@ -51,13 +52,13 @@ alone does not establish npm publishing authority. Do not bypass lifecycle check
 or repository approval rules. Verify npm provenance, tarball integrity and a fresh
 registry install after publishing. Rehearsal does not prove OIDC permission.
 
-The current dependency queue is #23, #20, #21, then #22. Refresh and test each PR
-after the preceding merge. #22 subsumes the vulnerable brace-expansion path;
-verify the final lockfile rather than assuming an overlapping PR is unnecessary.
-Use `npm audit --json` to inspect the full tooling tree as well as the production
-audit in validate. CI retains that report. Require a full-tree high/critical audit
-gate once the existing queue clears; do not hide advisories or force unsupported
-major overrides to produce a green audit.
+The security updates in #23, #20, #21 and #22 remove the existing high-severity
+findings. `npm run validate` checks production dependencies and rejects high or
+critical findings anywhere in the installed tree, including development tooling.
+CI and the release wrapper both run this command. Moderate tooling findings stay
+visible in the audit output and the full JSON report retained by CI; passing the
+severity gate does not accept their risk. Do not hide advisories or force
+unsupported major overrides to produce a green audit.
 
 ### Unresolved development dependency findings
 
@@ -69,11 +70,32 @@ packages still pin the affected qs and stream-json versions. This repository's
 package validator prohibits overrides, including scoped overrides. A tested qs
 6.16.0 override therefore cannot be shipped under the current package contract.
 
-The stream-json consumer imports its parser and `stream-json/Assembler` through
-CommonJS; forcing version 3 would change the module/export contract. The uuid
-consumers include LangChain v1/v4 usage in both CommonJS and ESM. These packages
-are development dependencies, not libraries shipped in this node's tarball;
-the separately installed n8n host has its own dependency tree. This distinction
-is not risk acceptance. The release owner must disposition these findings or
-wait for compatible upstream repairs before publishing. Reevaluate when the
-n8n tooling updates its pinned dependencies; retain audit evidence in the PR.
+Source inspection and bounded local checks found:
+
+- `stream-json`: backend-common uses its parser and CommonJS
+  `stream-json/Assembler`, not the filter APIs implicated by the advisory. A
+  circular-data roundtrip through the actual consumer passed. Forcing version 3
+  would change the module/export contract.
+- `uuid`: the inspected LangChain callers use v1/v4 without external buffers.
+  Those calls returned valid IDs. Installed uuid 10 silently accepts undersized
+  external buffers in both v4 and v5, so other call signatures are not cleared.
+- `qs`: backend-network calls stringify for query and form serialization.
+  Ordinary serialization passed, but a crafted JSON object with a non-callable
+  `constructor.isBuffer` reproduced the error through its actual query
+  serializer. That trigger does not require a preceding qs.parse call. The
+  separate array-limit parse advisory also reproduced in a small fixture.
+
+The CLI's executable source does not directly import its AI SDK dependency;
+scaffolding templates reference it. A CommonJS module-load trace during build,
+validation and release rehearsal did not load the vulnerable uuid 10, qs or
+stream-json copies. This is evidence for those commands, not proof about ESM
+loads, interactive development, scaffolding, or every possible input.
+
+These packages are development dependencies, not libraries shipped in this
+node's tarball; the separately installed n8n host has its own dependency tree.
+No release owner has accepted the remaining risk. The npm release owner must
+record a disposition of these findings or wait for compatible upstream repairs
+before publishing. Reevaluate when n8n tooling updates its pinned dependencies,
+when these packages become reachable through a changed command or consumer, or
+when advisory severity changes. Retain current audit and consumer evidence in
+the maintenance PR.

package.json

@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
 		"release": "node scripts/release.mjs",
 		"prepublishOnly": "n8n-node prerelease && npm run check-package",
 		"format:check": "prettier --check .",
-		"validate": "npm run format:check && npm run lint && npm run typecheck && npm test && npm audit --omit=dev && npm run check-package",
+		"validate": "npm run format:check && npm run lint && npm run typecheck && npm test && npm audit --omit=dev && npm audit --audit-level=high && npm run check-package",
 		"release:rehearse": "node scripts/release.mjs --dry-run"
 	},
 	"files": [