Freerdp CVE-2026-22854

CRITICAL

Heap-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-122)

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

Buffer Overflow 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 vulnerable FreeRDP server
Exploit

Server sends oversized read length
Execution

Heap buffer overflow in drive read handler
Impact

Execute arbitrary code with RDP process privileges

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness	CWE CWE-122 OWASP Top 10:2025 A06:2021 - Vulnerable and Outdated Components ASVS 5.0 V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Heap buffer bounds checking MITRE ATT&CK 1 technique across 1 tactic: Execution The technique list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 versions prior to 3.20.1 with drive redirection enabled. Attacker must have network access to RDP server. Default RDP configurations with file/drive sharing features activated are vulnerable.
Impact	CVSS 9.8 (Critical). PoC available. EPSS 0.08%.
Exploit ScenarioDerived	Malicious RDP server triggers oversized file read that overflows the IRP output buffer.

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

Patch available 0.1% exploitation probability (EPSS)

Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.

AnalysisAIv1 – Mar 12, 2026

FreeRDP drive read heap overflow when server-controlled read length exceeds IRP output buffer. Fixed in 3.20.1. PoC available.

Earlier versions of this analysis (1)

v1 Mar 12, 2026 - 21:54 CVSS 9.8

FreeRDP heap overflow in drive read via server-controlled length.

RemediationAI

Update to 3.20.1.

Affects your stack

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

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Sign in to check

Technical ContextAI · show details

Server-controlled read length is used without bounds checking (CWE-122).

Know when Freerdp gets its next vulnerability

Watch products and get an email when something new is published
Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

Continue with Google Continue with GitHub

No credit card · 7-day full trial

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 8.1 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 - 18:38 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 heap-buffer-overflow occurs in drive read when a server-controlled read length is used to read file data into an IRP output stream buffer without a hard upper bound, allowing an oversized read to overwrite heap memory. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.20.1.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

Organizations using FreeRDP face critical risk from CVE-2026-22854, a heap-based buffer overflow 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

Buffer Overflow HIGH

A buffer overflow occurs when a program writes more data to a memory buffer than it was allocated to hold, causing the excess data to spill into adjacent memory regions.

Affected Products (CPE)GitHub Advisory

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

More in Freerdp

View all

CVE-2026-25997 CRITICAL Act Now POC

Use-after-free in FreeRDP xf_clipboard_format_equal before 3.23.0. Clipboard format comparison uses freed memory. Fifth

CVE-2026-25953 CRITICAL Act Now POC

Use-after-free in FreeRDP xf_AppUpdateWindowFromSurface before 3.23.0. Surface-to-window update triggers memory corrupti

CVE-2026-25952 CRITICAL Act Now POC

Use-after-free in FreeRDP xf_SetWindowMinMaxInfo before version 3.23.0. X11 client window management triggers memory cor

CVE-2026-25959 CRITICAL Act Now POC

Use-after-free in FreeRDP xf_cliprdr_provide_data clipboard handling before 3.23.0. Clipboard data exchange triggers mem

CVE-2026-22857 CRITICAL Act Now POC

FreeRDP IRP thread handler has a use-after-free where the IRP is freed by Complete() then accessed on the error path. Fi

CVE-2026-22852 CRITICAL Act Now POC

FreeRDP client before 3.20.1 has a heap buffer overflow in AUDIN format processing. A malicious RDP server can corrupt m

CVE-2026-25955 CRITICAL Act Now POC

Use-after-free in FreeRDP xf_AppUpdateWindowFromSurface before 3.23.0. Different code path from CVE-2026-25953. PoC and

CVE-2024-32041 CRITICAL Act Now POC

FreeRDP is a free implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability

CVE-2023-40574 CRITICAL Act Now POC

FreeRDP is a free implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), released under the Apache license. Rated critical

CVE-2023-40569 CRITICAL Act Now POC

FreeRDP is a free implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), released under the Apache license. Rated critical

CVE-2023-40567 CRITICAL Act Now POC

FreeRDP is a free implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), released under the Apache license. Rated critical

CVE-2023-40187 CRITICAL Act Now POC

FreeRDP is a free implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), released under the Apache license. Rated critical

Same weakness CWE-122 – Heap-based Buffer Overflow

View all

CVE-2023-4911 HIGH POC

CVE-2023-27997 CRITICAL

CVE-2026-94127 CRITICAL POC

CVE-2025-25249 CRITICAL POC

CVE-2026-85880 HIGH POC

CVE-2025-24985 HIGH POC

CVE-2026-53362 HIGH POC

CVE-2025-21418 HIGH

Same technique Buffer Overflow

View all

CVE-2017-7269 CRITICAL POC

CVE-2015-5119 CRITICAL POC

CVE-2015-3113 CRITICAL POC

CVE-2011-2462 CRITICAL POC

CVE-2020-0796 CRITICAL POC

CVE-2019-11043 CRITICAL POC

CVE-2009-0927 HIGH POC

CVE-2012-1889 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/341143 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

Search Externally

Exploit-DB PacketStorm Snyk Rapid7 Nuclei Templates Trickest PoC

Back

This site uses cookies essential for authentication and security. No tracking or analytics cookies are used. Privacy Policy