Use After Free in Freerdp
CVE-2026-22851
FreeRDP is a free implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol. Prior to 3.20.1, a race condition between the RDPGFX dynamic virtual channel thread and the SDL render thread leads to a heap use-after-free. Specifically, an escaped pointer to sdl->primary (SDL_Surface) is accessed after it has been freed during RDPGFX ResetGraphics handling. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.20.1.
Vulnerability class: Race Condition
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 5.9 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.003 (18.9th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 19th percentile — 18.9% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.003 · change: +0.000
Affected products
- Freerdp — versions < 3.20.1
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- github.com/FreeRDP/FreeRDP/security/advisories/GHSA-8g87-6pvc-wh99 (Exploit, Vendor Advisory)
- github.com/FreeRDP/FreeRDP/releases/tag/3.20.1 (Release Notes)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-22851?
- CVE-2026-22851 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Freerdp, classified under Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization (Race Condition). CVSS score: 5.9/10. Published 2026-01-14.
- How severe is CVE-2026-22851?
- Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.9 out of 10.