CVE-2026-45374
CRITICALCVE-2026-45374 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.6) Code Injection vulnerability in deepseek-tui. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2026-45374 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
CodeWhale: task_create Insecure Defaults Enable RCE via Prompt Injection in Project Files
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2026-45374.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2026-45374 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 0 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
deepseek-tuiReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects crates.io packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
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.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | deepseek-tui | all versions | 0.8.26 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for deepseek-tui. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update deepseek-tui to 0.8.26 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-45374 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2026-45374 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2026-45374. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-45374 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2026-45374 across crates.io dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.