CVE-2026-121963FreeRDP use after free
CVE-2026-121963 is a use after free in FreeRDP, rated high (8.2 on CVSS 4.0).
Why this priority: High severity, with no exploitation signal yet.
Published · Updated · NVD status: Analyzed
What it is
Code keeps using memory after releasing it, so an attacker who refills that memory can steer execution. Two operations race on shared state, and an attacker who wins the race bypasses a check or corrupts data.
How it is reached
An attacker can exploit it over the network, without an account, and nobody has to click anything. Success also depends on conditions the attacker does not fully control.
What an attacker gains
A successful attack can take it offline. In practice, this kind of flaw lets an attacker crash the process, read memory, or in the worst case run code.
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
- Upgrade FreeRDP to 3.32.2 or later.
- Until it is patched, keep it off the internet or behind a VPN, allowlist or authenticating proxy.
Description from NVD
FreeRDP before 3.32.2 contains a use-after-free vulnerability in the asynchronous dynamic rdpsnd channel that allows malicious RDP servers to trigger freed callback access by closing the channel with queued audio PDUs. Attackers can send a training PDU then close the channel so the playback thread reads the freed callback in rdpsnd_virtual_channel_write, crashing the client.
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
- Native code: operating systems, browsers and firmware. The flaw sits wherever native code reads untrusted data.
- Network appliances and media or file parsers. The flaw sits wherever native code reads untrusted data.
- Request handlers and jobs that share state. The flaw sits between concurrent requests or processes.
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.
- Wherever native code reads untrusted data. An attacker who crosses it can crash the process, read memory, or in the worst case run code.
- Between concurrent requests or processes. An attacker who crosses it can win a timing window to bypass a check or corrupt shared state.
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?
Read more
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.