Consider the follow job run with a GITHUB_TOKEN (github.token) not containing the actions: read permission.

It successfully downloads (actions/download-artifact@v4) an artifact uploaded (actions/upload-artifact@v4) by a different job within the same workflow.

However, in my enterprise’s GitHub organization, this doesn’t work, unless the GITHUB_TOKEN includes the actions: read permission. More specifically, it results in the following error, which means permissions are lagging:

Unable to download artifact(s): Resource not accessible by integration

Why may I observe this inconsistency between workflows?