CVE-2026-23530VulnerabilityPublished 5 Feb 2026Updated 27 Jun 2026

Red Hat Security Advisory: freerdp security update

Affects Red HatSource GCVE Database

Mentioned vulnerabilities

Not known to be exploited.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

Severity

High

Rated by Threat Radar · No CVSS score from NVD or the CNA

EPSS: 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 44% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 5 Feb 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Red Hat Product Security Red Hat	Affected Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 9) src	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Red Hat has released updated FreeRDP packages addressing these vulnerabilities as part of RHSA-2026:2048. Users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and related CodeReady Linux Builder variants should apply the security update promptly following Red Hat's guidance at https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258. No additional mitigations are specified beyond applying the official patch. Patch status is confirmed as an official fix available from Red Hat.

Description

FreeRDP is a free implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), released under the Apache license. The xfreerdp client can connect to RDP servers such as Microsoft Windows machines, xrdp, and VirtualBox. Security Fix(es): * freerdp: FreeRDP: Heap buffer overflow leading to denial of service and potential code execution from a malicious server. (CVE-2026-23530) * freerdp: FreeRDP: Denial of Service and potential code execution via use-after-free vulnerability (CVE-2026-23884) * freerdp: FreeRDP: Arbitrary code execution and denial of service via malicious server (CVE-2026-23883) * freerdp: FreeRDP: Heap buffer overflow leads to denial of service and potential code execution (CVE-2026-23533) * freerdp: FreeRDP: Heap buffer overflow via crafted RDPGFX surface updates leads to denial of service and potential code execution. (CVE-2026-23531) * freerdp: FreeRDP: Arbitrary code execution and denial of service via client-side heap buffer overflow (CVE-2026-23534) * freerdp: FreeRDP: Denial of Service and potential code execution via client-side heap buffer overflow (CVE-2026-23532) For more details about the security issue(s), including the impact, a CVSS score, acknowledgments, and other related information, refer to the CVE page(s) listed in the References section.

Impact

Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities may allow a malicious RDP server to cause a denial of service or execute arbitrary code on the client system running FreeRDP. This could compromise the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected system. The vulnerabilities affect client-side components, making users connecting to untrusted or compromised RDP servers at risk.

Summary

FreeRDP contains several critical memory corruption vulnerabilities including heap buffer overflows and use-after-free bugs (CVE-2026-23530, CVE-2026-23531, CVE-2026-23532, CVE-2026-23533, CVE-2026-23534, CVE-2026-23883, CVE-2026-23884). These flaws can be triggered by a malicious RDP server during client connections, potentially causing denial of service or arbitrary code execution on the client system. The vulnerabilities affect the xfreerdp client and related FreeRDP components. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and its CodeReady Linux Builder variants are impacted. Red Hat has issued an important security advisory (RHSA-2026:2048) with updated packages to remediate these issues.

CWE-122Heap-based Buffer Overflow (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #16
A heap overflow condition is a buffer overflow, where the buffer that can be overwritten is allocated in the heap portion of memory, generally meaning that the buffer was allocated using a routine such as malloc().
Pre-design: Use a language or compiler that performs automatic bounds checking.
Architecture and Design
Use an abstraction library to abstract away risky APIs. Not a complete solution.
Operation · Build and Compilation · Environment Hardening
Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index…
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Forced Integer Overflow (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).
CWE-416Use After Free (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #7
The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.
Architecture and Design · Language Selection
Choose a language that provides automatic memory management.
Implementation · Attack Surface Reduction
When freeing pointers, be sure to set them to NULL once they are freed. However, the utilization of multiple or complex data structures may lower the usefulness of this strategy.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 25 Jun 2026, 23:41 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-122, CWE-416

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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