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CVE-2026-121959FreeRDP infinite loop

Schedule itHigh7.1EPSS 0.31%, higher than 24% of scored CVEs

CVE-2026-121959 is a infinite loop in FreeRDP, rated high (7.1 on CVSS 4.0).

Why this priority: High severity, with no exploitation signal yet.

Published · Updated · NVD status: Analyzed

What it is

Crafted input sends the software into a loop it never leaves.

How it is reached

An attacker can exploit it over the network, without an account, but someone has to act first, such as opening a file or following a link.

What an attacker gains

A successful attack can take it offline. In practice, this kind of flaw lets an attacker exhaust CPU, memory or connections until the service stops answering.

Is it being exploited?

CISA's SSVC assessment notes a public proof of concept. EPSS estimates a 0.31% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 24% of scored CVEs.

What to do

  1. Upgrade FreeRDP to 3.32.2 or later.
  2. Until it is patched, keep it off the internet or behind a VPN, allowlist or authenticating proxy.
  3. Warn the people who use it, and filter files and links on the way in.

Description from NVD

FreeRDP before 3.32.2 contains an infinite loop vulnerability in websocket_context_read that fails to handle a zero BIO result with payload outstanding. A malicious RD Gateway can send a truncated WebSocket frame followed by a TLS close_notify, causing a client thread to spin and consume CPU until killed.

What this means for your architecture.

A CVE names a product. Whether it matters depends on where that product sits in your systems: what reaches it, which trust boundary it guards and what it can reach once compromised. Veriom maps your components, their relationships and your trust boundaries from your code, cloud and delivery evidence, so you can see where a component like this sits. The radar itself does not look at your systems.

Components it touches

  • Public entry points and shared services that must stay up. The flaw sits between untrusted traffic and shared capacity.

Trust boundaries in play

  • Internet-facing entry points. No account is needed. Any instance reachable from outside your perimeter, through a load balancer, gateway, VPN or exposed admin port, is in scope.
  • People who open files and links. Mail, chat and browsers are the delivery path.
  • Between untrusted traffic and shared capacity. An attacker who crosses it can exhaust CPU, memory or connections until the service stops answering.

Questions to answer about your own systems

  • Where does FreeRDP run in your systems, and at which version?
  • Which of those instances can be reached from the internet or partner networks?
  • What can it reach once compromised: which data stores, secrets and services?

Sources

  • CVE records and CVSS scores from the NVD CVE API. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
  • Exploitation status from CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
  • Exploit likelihood from FIRST’s Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), refreshed daily.
  • Explanations are written by Veriom from fixed templates over each record’s data, not by a person reviewing each CVE. Descriptions are quoted from the records as published.