fix: address security findings on path traversal, hardening - #2

Node.js 20 is deprecated. The following actions target Node.js 20 but are being forced to run on Node.js 24: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683, actions/setup-node@49933ea5288caeca8642d1e84afbd3f7d6820020, actions/upload-artifact@ea165f8d65b6e75b540449e92b4886f43607fa02. For more information see: https://github.blog/changelog/2025-09-19-deprecation-of-node-20-on-github-actions-runners/