Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:LSummary
CVE-2026-33985 is a medium-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) vulnerability in Freerdp Freerdp. Its CVSS base score is 5.9 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 11th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2026-33985 affects FreeRDP, an open-source implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), in versions prior to 3.24.2. The vulnerability involves pixel data from adjacent heap memory being incorrectly rendered to the screen due to out-of-bounds read (CWE-125) and insufficient buffer size handling (CWE-131) issues. Published on March 30, 2026, it has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.9 (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:L), indicating medium severity primarily due to high confidentiality impact.
An attacker can exploit this over the network by tricking a user into connecting a vulnerable FreeRDP client to a malicious RDP server. Exploitation requires high attack complexity and user interaction, such as the victim initiating the RDP session, with no privileges needed on the target system. Successful exploitation renders sensitive data from adjacent heap memory as pixels on the screen, leaking it to the attacker who can observe it during the session.
The FreeRDP security advisory (GHSA-x6gr-8p7h-5h85) and associated patch commit (c49d1ad43b8c7b32794d0250f2623c2dccd7ef25) confirm the issue is fixed in version 3.24.2. Security practitioners should update to this version or later to mitigate the risk of information disclosure.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-17231
Vulnerability Data
FreeRDP is a free implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol. Prior to version 3.24.2, pixel data from adjacent heap memory is rendered to screen, potentially leaking sensitive data to the attacker. This issue has been patched in version 3.24.2.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation directly finds out-of-bounds read flaws through static analysis, fuzzing, and dynamic bounds checks.
Secure engineering principles require bounds checking and memory-safe constructs that stop out-of-bounds reads from being introduced.
Process isolation confines the effects of an out-of-bounds read to the compromised process.
Input validation rejects malformed indices or lengths that would otherwise cause reads outside buffer bounds.
Memory-protection mechanisms limit the exploitability of an overflow that results from an incorrect size calculation.
Flaw-remediation processes that include vulnerability scanning or static analysis will surface buffer-size errors.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Secure-development practices such as bounds checking and memory-safe languages directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.
Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover instances of out-of-bounds reads after code is deployed.
Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing out-of-bounds read flaws.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Secure coding standards directly require correct buffer-size calculations.
Security testing in development and acceptance includes fuzzing and static analysis that detect out-of-bounds read defects before release.
Logging can record evidence of an out-of-bounds read but does not prevent the weakness itself.
Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and bounds checking that directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.
Application security requirements include explicit bounds and memory-safety specifications that mitigate buffer over-reads.
Secure system architecture and engineering principles require memory-safe design patterns and runtime protections against out-of-bounds access.