Wrong npm version in GitHub actions

With the introduction of Trusted Publishers it is now important to use npm >= 11 to avoid errors. Setting up a simple GH action

jobs:
  publish:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Release
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version: '24'

      - run: npm -v
      - run: npx semantic-release
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

And my release.config.js set like this:

export default {
        // ....
	plugins: [
                // ...
		[
			'@semantic-release/exec',
			{
				prepareCmd: 'npm -v'
			}
		]
	]
}

The logs will show two completely different npm versions 11.12.1 and 10.9.2. Attempting to explicitly set the shell with shell: '/bin/bash' or executing the command bash -c 'npm -v' does not solve the issue. My impression is that exec commands are running outside the execution environment set by the actions/setup-node@v6.

Start with the provided GitHub Actions workflow and release.config.js, then trace how @semantic-release/exec launches the prepareCmd. Reproduce the two npm -v results in the shown setup-node@v6 configuration and determine why the command does not use the configured npm version. Done means the prepare command runs with the intended npm version in the workflow.