Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-55191

Memory Safety in Freerdp ≤ 3.27.0

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
19 August 2026
Modified
22 September 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 8.7
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/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
EPSS Score 0.0060 47th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2026-55191 is a high-severity Heap-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-122) vulnerability in Freerdp Freerdp. Its CVSS base score is 8.7 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 47th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

FreeRDP is a free implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol. Prior to 3.27.0, FreeRDP clients that negotiate RDPGFX AVC444 with an H.264 decoder backend calculate the intermediate YUV444 allocation size in libfreerdp/codec/h264.c with 32-bit multiplication in avc444_ensure_buffer. A malicious RDP…

more

server can supply surface dimensions for which piDstStride multiplied by padDstHeight wraps to a small nonzero value, causing winpr_aligned_recalloc to allocate an undersized buffer before YUV420CombineToYUV444 writes using the actual stride and rectangle dimensions. This can cause a client crash and may permit code execution through attacker-influenced heap corruption. This issue is fixed in version 3.27.0.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
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.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-50299Shared CWE-122, CWE-190
CVE-2026-72990Shared CWE-122, CWE-190
CVE-2026-55043Shared CWE-122, CWE-190
CVE-2024-51737Shared CWE-122, CWE-190
CVE-2026-55048Shared CWE-122, CWE-190
CVE-2026-72986Shared CWE-122, CWE-190
CVE-2024-51480Shared CWE-122, CWE-190
CVE-2026-84000Shared CWE-122, CWE-190
CVE-2026-54241Shared CWE-122, CWE-190
CVE-2026-55033Shared CWE-122, CWE-190

Affected Assets

freerdp
freerdp
≤ 3.27.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.4.1
  • V5.2.6

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation (including fuzzing and memory-error detectors) can discover heap overflows after they have been coded.

Input validation enforces bounds checking on data written to heap buffers, directly stopping the overflow condition from being introduced.

Security engineering principles require use of memory-safe constructs and bounds-checked allocation routines that avoid introducing heap overflows.

Memory-protection mechanisms limit the ability of a heap overflow to execute attacker-controlled code or corrupt adjacent structures.

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.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover heap-overflow flaws but does not prevent their introduction in code.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Timely patching removes known heap-overflow instances after they exist.

PR.PS-06 partial match
prevents

Secure-development practices directly require bounds checking and safe memory handling that prevent heap overflows.

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.

prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates practices that reduce the likelihood of introducing heap overflows.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify bounds-checking and safe memory APIs that mitigate heap overflows.

prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles include memory-safety and input-validation controls that address heap overflows.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly prescribe techniques (safe functions, bounds checks) that prevent heap-based buffer overflows.

finds

Security testing in development and acceptance can detect heap overflows before release.

References