How can I edit a custom field with Rule and VBO of a NOT published node?
Cron runs as an anonymous user. Ensure that the view permissions allow an anonymous user to access. Set the access to role:



Then, set the role to anonymous:



That should allow you to bypass the regular permissions that would normally not allow you to see it.

Also, ensure that your rule includes a rule to save the entity. I'm not 100% sure that it will save the entities you reference automatically, but it is more clear.

Also also, you may need to check the permissions on your rules to ensure that they can be executed by anonymous as well: