Freerdp CVE-2026-22852

CRITICAL

Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787)

2026-01-14 security-advisories@github.com

Denial Of Service Memory Corruption Red Hat Freerdp Suse

Critical

Disputed · 9.8 NVD

View

Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

Access

Connect to malicious RDP server
Exploit

Send crafted AUDIN format list PDU
Execution

Trigger heap buffer overflow in audin_process_formats
Impact

Corrupt client memory and execute code

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness	CWE CWE-787 OWASP Top 10:2025 A06:2021 - Vulnerable and Outdated Components ASVS 5.0 V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Bounds checking, write limits MITRE ATT&CK 2 techniques across 2 tactics: Execution, Privilege Escalation The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. Sign in to read
Exploitation Conditions	FreeRDP client versions prior to 3.20.1 connecting to a malicious RDP server. No authentication required; the vulnerability triggers during the Audio Input channel negotiation phase when the server sends specially crafted MSG_SNDIN_FORMATS protocol data units with mismatched format counts.
Impact	CVSS 9.8 (Critical). PoC available. EPSS 0.08%. Part of a series of 7 FreeRDP vulnerabilities fixed in 3.20.1.
Exploit ScenarioDerived	An attacker sets up a rogue RDP server. When a victim connects with FreeRDP, the server sends crafted AUDIN PDUs that overflow the heap buffer, achieving code execution on the client.

Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Why: CRITICAL severity + public POC available.

Patch available 0.1% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Mar 12, 2026

FreeRDP client before 3.20.1 has a heap buffer overflow in AUDIN format processing. A malicious RDP server can corrupt memory and crash the client. PoC available.

Earlier versions of this analysis (1)

v1 Mar 12, 2026 - 21:54 CVSS 9.8

FreeRDP client has heap overflow in audio input format processing exploitable by malicious RDP servers.

RemediationAI

Update FreeRDP to 3.20.1.

Affects your stack

Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.

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Technical ContextAI · show details

audin_process_formats reuses a count across multiple PDUs and writes past the allocated buffer (CWE-787). A malicious RDP server sends multiple format lists to trigger the overflow.

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Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

Sources disagree (Medium–Critical)

GitHub Advisory PRIMARY 9.8 CRITICAL

AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

SUSE CRITICAL

Red Hat 5.6 MEDIUM

vuln.today treats the vendor’s rating as authoritative. A higher third-party CVSS (e.g. CISA-ADP) is shown for transparency but does not drive the headline severity.

CVSS VectorGitHub Advisory

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Lifecycle Timeline

3

Patch released

Apr 09, 2026 - 20:30 nvd

Patch available

PoC Detected

Jan 20, 2026 - 18:40 vuln.today

Public exploit code

CVE Published

Jan 14, 2026 - 18:16 nvd

CRITICAL 9.8

DescriptionGitHub Advisory

FreeRDP is a free implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol. Prior to 3.20.1, a malicious RDP server can trigger a heap-buffer-overflow write in the FreeRDP client when processing Audio Input (AUDIN) format lists. audin_process_formats reuses callback->formats_count across multiple MSG_SNDIN_FORMATS PDUs and writes past the newly allocated formats array, causing memory corruption and a crash. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.20.1.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

Organizations using FreeRDP face critical risk from CVE-2026-22852, a out-of-bounds write vulnerability rated CVSS 9.8. Exploitation could allow attackers to corrupt memory, crash the application, or potentially execute arbitrary code. Proof-of-concept code is publicly available, increasing the risk of exploitation. Organizations should apply vendor updates immediately when available and implement compensating controls in the interim.

Business Impact: Severe

Compensating Controls

Apply vendor patch. If immediate patching is not feasible: (1) Enable ASLR and DEP where available; (2) Implement network segmentation; (3) Monitor for exploitation indicators.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score

0.1%

Top 76% exploitable

Exploit

POC

Public exploit code exists

Data Quality

4 sources

Confidence: Medium

CVE.org

EPSS Vendor

GitHub

VulDB

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue

Severity CRITICAL

CISA KEV No

Public POC Yes

EPSS 0.1%

Patch available Yes

Active threat No

Deciding rule

CRITICAL severity + public POC available

What every action level means

Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.

Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.

Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived

Out-of-Cycle

Exploitation· derived

Poc

System Exposure· derived

Open

Automatable· derived

Yes

Human Impact

Very High

Priority Score

69

Low Medium High Critical

KEV: 0

EPSS: 0

CVSS: +49

PoC: +20

Weaponized: 0

Threat intel: 0

Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Memory Corruption HIGH

Memory corruption occurs when a program writes data beyond the boundaries of allocated memory regions or accesses memory in unintended ways, violating the integrity of the process's address space.

Denial of Service MEDIUM

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

Affected Products (CPE)GitHub Advisory

cpe:2.3:a:freerdp:freerdp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

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Same weakness CWE-787 – Out-of-bounds Write

View all

CVE-2015-3113 CRITICAL POC

CVE-2011-2462 CRITICAL POC

CVE-2012-1889 HIGH POC

CVE-2010-3333 HIGH POC

CVE-2014-1761 HIGH POC

CVE-2009-3129 HIGH POC

CVE-2021-1732 HIGH POC

CVE-2013-3346 CRITICAL POC

Same technique Denial Of Service

View all

CVE-2015-5119 CRITICAL POC

CVE-2011-0611 HIGH POC

CVE-2012-0507 CRITICAL POC

CVE-2015-5122 CRITICAL POC

CVE-2011-0609 HIGH POC

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Critical

Product	Status
Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/baremetal-os-container:latest Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container:latest Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/rt-os-container:latest	Affected
Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container:latest Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/toolbox:latest Image SL-Micro Image SLE-Micro Image SLE-Micro-Azure Image SLE-Micro-BYOS Image SLE-Micro-BYOS-Azure Image SLE-Micro-BYOS-EC2 Image SLE-Micro-BYOS-GCE Image SLE-Micro-EC2 Image SLE-Micro-GCE	Affected
Container suse/sl-micro/6.1/baremetal-os-container:2.2.1-7.43 Container suse/sl-micro/6.1/kvm-os-container:2.2.1-5.67 Container suse/sl-micro/6.1/rt-os-container:2.2.1-5.57	Affected
Container suse/sl-micro/6.1/base-os-container:2.2.1-5.64 Image SL-Micro-Azure Image SL-Micro-BYOS-Azure Image SL-Micro-BYOS-EC2 Image SL-Micro-BYOS-GCE Image SL-Micro-EC2 Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Proxy-BYOS-Azure Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Proxy-BYOS-EC2 Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Proxy-BYOS-GCE Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-Azure-llc Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-Azure-ltd Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-BYOS-Azure Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-BYOS-EC2 Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-BYOS-GCE Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-EC2-llc Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-EC2-ltd	Affected
SUSE Liberty Linux 8	Fixed

References

Advisories & patches

ADVISORY https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:6340 ADVISORY https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:6727 ADVISORY https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:6743 ADVISORY https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:6799 ADVISORY https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:6918 ADVISORY https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:6958 ADVISORY https://vuldb.com/vuln/341141 ADVISORY https://www.suse.com/support/update/SUSE-SU-2026:0345/ ADVISORY https://www.suse.com/support/update/SUSE-SU-2026:0417/ ADVISORY https://www.suse.com/support/update/SUSE-SU-2026:0421/ ADVISORY https://www.suse.com/support/update/SUSE-SU-2026:0449/ ADVISORY https://www.suse.com/support/update/SUSE-SU-2026:0559/ REF https://github.com/FreeRDP/FreeRDP/releases/tag/3.20.1

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