Vulnerability · Published Jan 14, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M
CVE-2026-22851FreeRDP RDPGFX ResetGraphics race leads to use-after-free in SDL client (sdl->primary)
Medium 6.9
In plain English
A medium-severity race condition in FreeRDP from FreeRDP. Proof-of-concept exploit code is public. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.3% (higher than 22% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
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.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine:v3.23 | freerdp | 3.22.0-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-22851 |
| Debian:12 | freerdp2 | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-22851 |
| Debian:13 | freerdp3 | 3.15.0+dfsg-2.1+deb13u1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-22851 |
| Debian:14 | freerdp3 | 3.20.2+dfsg-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-22851 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | freerdp2 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-22851 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | freerdp3 | 3.5.1+dfsg1-0ubuntu1.4 | USN-8105-1 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | freerdp3 | 3.5.1+dfsg1-0ubuntu1.4 | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-22851 |
| Ubuntu:25.10 | freerdp3 | 3.16.0+dfsg-2ubuntu0.3 | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-22851 |
| Ubuntu:25.10 | freerdp3 | 3.16.0+dfsg-2ubuntu0.3 | USN-8105-1 |
| Ubuntu:26.04:LTS | freerdp3 | 3.20.2+dfsg-1 | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-22851 |
Affected products (as reported)
Weakness: CWE-362, CWE-416 · Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P
References
- https://github.com/FreeRDP/FreeRDP/security/advisories/GHSA-8g87-6pvc-wh99 x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/FreeRDP/FreeRDP/releases/tag/3.20.1 x_refsource_MISC