Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-54538

DoS in Neutrinolabs Xrdp ≤ 0.10.6.1

DoS
Published
20 July 2026
Modified
22 July 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0038 31th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-54538 is a high-severity Infinite Loop (CWE-835) vulnerability in Neutrinolabs Xrdp. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 31th 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 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SC-5 (Denial-of-service Protection) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

xrdp is an open source RDP server. In versions 0.10.6 and prior, a n issue was discovered where the software fails to properly validate the totalLength field within the RDP protocol control header during packet reception. An unauthenticated remote attacker…

more

can exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially crafted packet that forces the xrdp process or thread into an infinite, CPU-bound loop. Because the internal pointer fails to advance and the deadlock prevention mechanism is bypassed for specific protocol data unit types, the process consumes excessive CPU resources indefinitely. This can render the xrdp service unavailable and potentially lead to system-wide resource exhaustion if multiple malicious connections are established. This issue has been fixed in version 0.10.6.1.

CWE(s)
CWE-835

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impact
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities that can cause an application or system to crash and deny availability to users.
attack.mitre.org →
Why these techniques?

Vulnerability in public-facing xrdp RDP server enables remote unauthenticated exploitation causing endpoint DoS via application-level infinite loop and resource exhaustion.

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-33516Same product: Neutrinolabs Xrdp
CVE-2026-41252Same product: Neutrinolabs Xrdp
CVE-2026-55238Same product: Neutrinolabs Xrdp
CVE-2026-32623Same product: Neutrinolabs Xrdp
CVE-2026-44978Same product: Neutrinolabs Xrdp
CVE-2026-41521Same product: Neutrinolabs Xrdp
CVE-2026-32624Same product: Neutrinolabs Xrdp
CVE-2026-55645Same product: Neutrinolabs Xrdp
CVE-2026-33689Same product: Neutrinolabs Xrdp
CVE-2026-33145Same product: Neutrinolabs Xrdp

Affected Assets

neutrinolabs
xrdp
≤ 0.10.6.1

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
  • SC-5 Denial-of-service Protection
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)
  • SI-4 System Monitoring
Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

—

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match
prevent

Directly enforces validation of protocol fields such as totalLength before processing RDP PDUs, preventing the infinite loop on malformed input.

SC-5 Denial-of-service Protection partial match
prevent

Implements denial-of-service protection mechanisms that can throttle or drop packets causing resource exhaustion in the xrdp listener.

SI-4 System Monitoring partial match
detect

Enables monitoring of CPU utilization and anomalous network traffic patterns that would reveal the CPU-bound loop triggered by crafted packets.

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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices (reviews, testing, static analysis) directly prevent introduction of infinite-loop defects.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Static analysis and vuln scanning during asset assessment can detect unreachable loop exits.

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.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
detects

Security testing can uncover infinite-loop conditions before release.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates practices that can detect and prevent infinite-loop defects.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify loop-termination rules, indirectly reducing the weakness.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards directly address loop termination and prevent infinite loops.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles none match
none

Secure architecture principles encourage designs that avoid unreachable exit conditions.

A.8.32 Change management none match
none

Change management can require review of loop logic when code is modified.

References