RCE in Hmbown Codewhale

CVE-2026-45374

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.

Vulnerability class: RCE (Remote Code Execution)

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.6 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.005 (38.0th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 38th percentile — 38.0% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-45374: held from 0.003 to 0.005.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.005 · change: +0.002

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-45374?
CVE-2026-45374 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Hmbown Codewhale, classified under Code Injection. CVSS score: 9.6/10. Published 2026-05-28.
How severe is CVE-2026-45374?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.6 out of 10.