FreeRDP RDPEAR NDR ref-id aliasing causes client-side UAF/double-free and type confusion

Summary

CVE	CVE-2026-44422
State	PUBLISHED
Assigner	GitHub_M
Source Priority	CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published	2026-05-29 20:16:24 UTC
Updated	2026-07-08 13:16:46 UTC
Description	FreeRDP is a free implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol. Prior to 3.26.0, FreeRDP's RDPEAR NDR parser accepts one non-null NDR pointer ref-id for multiple logical pointer fields without tracking the pointed object's expected NDR type or ownership. When the same ref-id is reused across two pointer fields, the parser assigns the same heap object to both output fields. The generic destructor later walks each field independently and destroys/frees both pointers. This causes a malicious-server-triggerable heap use-after-free / double-free in the FreeRDP client's RDPEAR authentication-redirection path. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.26.0.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 8.8 HIGH from [email protected]

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS: 0.003840000 probability, percentile 0.304340000 (date 2026-07-09)

Version	Source	Type	Score	Severity	Vector
3.1	[email protected]	Primary	8.8	HIGH	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`
3.1	ADP	CVSS	7.5	HIGH	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`
3.1	[email protected]	Secondary	7.5	HIGH	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`
3.1	0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c	Secondary	7.5	HIGH	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`
3.1	CNA	DECLARED	7.5	HIGH	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

Required

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

NVD Known Affected Configurations (CPE 2.3)

Type	Vendor	Product	Version	Update	Edition	Language
Application	Freerdp	Freerdp	All	All	All	All

Vendor Declared Affected Products

Source	Vendor	Product	Version	Platforms
CNA	FreeRDP	FreeRDP	affected < 3.26.0	Not specified
ADP	Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream V. 10	Not specified	Not specified
ADP	Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder V. 10	Not specified	Not specified
ADP	Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6	Not specified	Not specified
ADP	Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7	Not specified	Not specified
ADP	Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8	Not specified	Not specified
ADP	Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9	Not specified	Not specified

References

Reference	Source	Link	Tags
security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-44422.json	0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c	security.access.redhat.com
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi	0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c	bugzilla.redhat.com
access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:36203	0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c	access.redhat.com
github.com/FreeRDP/FreeRDP/security/advisories/GHSA-j9q5-7g8m-jc9v	134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0	github.com	Exploit, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-44422	0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c	access.redhat.com
CVE Program record	CVE.ORG	www.cve.org	canonical
NVD vulnerability detail	NVD	nvd.nist.gov	canonical, analysis

No vendor comments have been submitted for this CVE.

Additional Advisory Data

Source	Time	Event
ADP	2026-05-29T21:01:10.766Z	Reported to Red Hat.
ADP	2026-05-29T19:41:46.829Z	Made public.

Solutions

ADP: RHSA-2026:36203: Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10), Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 10)

Workarounds

ADP: To mitigate this risk, avoid connecting to untrusted RDP servers and use firewall rules to restrict FreeRDP clients to trusted servers. If FreeRDP is not needed, remove the package to eliminate the attack vector, though this may affect dependent applications. **To remove the package:** `sudo dnf remove freerdp`

There are currently no legacy QID mappings associated with this CVE.