CVE-2026-45374CodeWhale: task_create Insecure Defaults Enable RCE via Prompt Injection in Project Files
- 9.6CriticalCVSS base score
- 0.39%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 67% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- YesPublic exploitsa reference or SSVC says so
Description
CodeWhale is a DeepSeek + MiMo coding agent in terminal. Prior to 0.8.26, the task_create tool spawns durable sub-agents that inherit two insecure defaults, allow_shell defaults to true (config.rs:1499: self.allow_shell.unwrap_or(true)) and auto_approve defaults to true (task_manager.rs:297: auto_approve: Some(true)). When a user approves a task_create call (which requires ApprovalRequirement::Required), they approve what appears to be a benign work prompt. However, the spawned sub-agent silently receives unrestricted, unapproved shell access. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.8.26.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. A reference of the record is tagged as an exploit. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: a proof of concept is public.
Show the exploits1
References tagged exploit1 reference
- https://github.com/Hmbown/CodeWhale/security/advisories/GHSA-72w5-pf8h-xfp4 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMexploit
Timeline
ID reserved
By GitHub_M
- 16 days later
· 16 days later
Published
- 2 days later
· 2 days later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub_MCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | Critical9.6 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Deferred | 3.1 | Critical9.6 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.39% · top 67% of all CVEs (14 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: poc · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Critical 9.6.
Affected products
Affected packages
From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.
- crates.iodeepseek-tuiGHSA-72w5-pf8h-xfp4 (opens in a new tab)
References
References2
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2026-32962 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-72w5-pf8h-xfp4 (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-45374)Record last updated .