HighCVE-2026-109242

FreeRDP: Use of Uninitialized Resource (CVE-2026-109242)

Published 12.10.2026Last modified 03.11.2026Sources: Red Hat, CVE.org, BSI

Public exploit

What is affected, what to do

A flaw was found in FreeRDP. A malicious Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) server can exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted sequence of progressive display tile updates to a connecting client.

An exploit is publicly available. Update FreeRDP to version 3.0.0, FreeRDP to version 3.32.0.

Affected: FreeRDP lt *..3.0.0
FreeRDP lt 3.6.0..3.32.0
Fixed in: FreeRDP 3.0.0
FreeRDP 3.32.0

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Metrics

7.1

Priority

XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

Source: NVD, CVSS v3

7.1

CVSS v3

Severity High on the scale from 0 to 10.

Source: Red Hat, CVE.org, BSI

0.3 %

EPSS score

Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.

Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 22.7

Show all metrics

Severity: High
Priority (0–325) The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first? Read in glossary: 69.64 Methodology
Exploit maturity An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack. Read in glossary: PoC (publicly reported)
XIEM Effective CVSS XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command. Read in glossary: 7.1 Methodology
CVSS v3 CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions. Read in glossary: 7.1
CVSS v4 CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions. Read in glossary: 7.1
EPSS score The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“. Read in glossary: 0.3 %; Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
EPSS percentile The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking. Read in glossary: 22.7; Elevated — this CVE ranks above at least 10% of all CVEs scored today.
KEV status The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching. Read in glossary: —
Published: 12.10.2026
CISA assessment (SSVC): Exploitation: proof of concept · not automatable · Technical impact: partial; Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 15 October 2026
CWE CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect. Read in glossary: CWE-908

Detection rules

No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

Classification under NIS2 and CRA

Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

NIS2 NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management. Read in glossary: High technical severity: assess and remediate the vulnerability in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2 and document the decision.
CRA The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates. Read in glossary: From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
ISO/IEC 27001 ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security. Read in glossary: Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

Description

A flaw was found in FreeRDP. A malicious Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) server can exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted sequence of progressive display tile updates to a connecting client. Because decompression buffers are allocated without being initialized, processing these updates can trigger an internal assertion failure that terminates the client application or causes uninitialized heap memory to be rendered directly onto the screen. This allows an attacker to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) or disclose sensitive information.

Source: redhat_csaf, NVD (NIST), cvelistv5, BSI WID Portal, BSI CSAF

Affected products

The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

Affected products
		Affected versions	Fixed in
FreeRDP	FreeRDP	`< 3.0.0` `3.6.0 – < 3.32.0`	`3.0.0` `3.32.0`
freerdp	freerdp	`3.6.0 – < 3.32.0` `< 3.0.0`	`3.32.0` `3.0.0`
Open Source	FreeRDP	`< 3.32.0`	`3.32.0`

Vendors and products

Weakness classes (CWE)

CWE-908Use of Uninitialized Resource
Base
The product uses or accesses a resource that has not been initialized.
Entry at MITRE CWE-908

Public exploit references

Publicly reported proof-of-concepts, exploit modules and detection templates for this vulnerability. NEOSEC links to the original sources only and does not provide any exploit code.

Public exploit references

Reference tagged as exploit	github.com (opens in a new tab)	PoC (publicly reported)reported, not verified	—

References & sources

github.comGitHub Security Advisory (GHSA-4mpr-hmqx-83q8)Vendor advisory, Exploit, Vendor advisory
vulncheck.comVulnCheck Advisory: FreeRDP before 3.0.0 and 3.6.0 before 3.32.0 Uninitialized Heap Disclosure via Progressive Codec Tile UpgradeThird-party advisory, Third-party advisory

Changes to this CVE

Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).

03.11.2026Initial analysis by NVDNVD

Newly listed as affected:

FreeRDP (3.6.0 – before 3.32.0; before 3.0.0)

New references:

Show 4 original changes

Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type	Action	Before	After
Product configuration	added	—	OR cpe:2.3:a:freerdp:freerdp::::::::* versions from (including) 3.6.0 up to (excluding) 3.32.0 cpe:2.3:a:freerdp:freerdp::::::::* versions up to (excluding) 3.0.0
Reference type	added	—	VulnCheck: https://github.com/FreeRDP/FreeRDP/security/advisories/GHSA-4mpr-hmqx-83q8 Types: Exploit, Vendor Advisory
Reference type	added	—	CISA-ADP: https://github.com/FreeRDP/FreeRDP/security/advisories/GHSA-4mpr-hmqx-83q8 Types: Exploit, Vendor Advisory
Reference type	added	—	VulnCheck: https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/freerdp-before-3.0.0-and-3.6.0-before-3.32.0-uninitialized-heap-disclosure-via-progressive-codec-tile-upgrade Types: Third Party Advisory

Source identifier: nvd@nist.gov

15.10.2026Record modifiedCISA ADP

CISA assessment (SSVC): exploitation: proof of concept, automatable: no

New references:

https://github.com/FreeRDP/FreeRDP/security/advisories/GHSA-4mpr-hmqx-83q8

Show 2 original changes

Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type	Action	Before	After
Reference	added	—	https://github.com/FreeRDP/FreeRDP/security/advisories/GHSA-4mpr-hmqx-83q8
SSVC assessment	added	—	{"id":"CVE-2026-109242","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"poc"},{"automatable":"no"},{"technicalImpact":"partial"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2026-10-15T02:27:47.243992Z"}

Source identifier: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

12.10.2026ReceivedVulnCheck

CVSS V4.0: AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:L/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

CVSS V3.1: AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H

Weakness type: CWE-908

Description added or changed

New references:

Show 7 original changes

Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type	Action	Before	After
Description	added	—	FreeRDP before 3.0.0 and 3.6.0 before 3.32.0 renders uninitialized heap memory from un-decoded progressive tiles because the tile->current buffer is allocated without zeroing. A malicious RDP server can send a crafted WBT_TILE_FIRST then WBT_TILE_UPGRADE sequence to paint heap bytes onscreen or abort the client process.
CVSS	added	—	AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:L/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
CVSS	added	—	AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H
Weakness type (CWE)	added	—	CWE-908
Affected versions (publisher)	added	—	New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/109xxx/CVE-2026-109242.json">CVE-2026-109242</a>
Reference	added	—	https://github.com/FreeRDP/FreeRDP/security/advisories/GHSA-4mpr-hmqx-83q8
Reference	added	—	https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/freerdp-before-3.0.0-and-3.6.0-before-3.32.0-uninitialized-heap-disclosure-via-progressive-codec-tile-upgrade

Source identifier: disclosure@vulncheck.com

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