CVE-2026-110830
Description
A flaw was found in FreeRDP. A malicious Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) server can trigger a Denial of Service (DoS) by sending repeated serial device creation requests when serial port redirection is enabled. Because FreeRDP fails to release previous communication handles before allocating new ones, the client application exhausts available file descriptors and terminates unexpectedly.
Statement
This vulnerability is rated Moderate for Red Hat Enterprise Linux because the impact is confined to client-side denial of service and requires an explicit, non-default feature configuration. FreeRDP does not enable serial device redirection by default, meaning an attacker-controlled RDP server can only trigger descriptor exhaustion if the client session specifically opted into serial forwarding. Additionally, the flaw affects only availability without impacting system confidentiality or data integrity.
Mitigation
Limit FreeRDP process resources with ulimit/cgroup controls to contain memory exhaustion. Restrict clients/servers to trusted peers.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.9 | 7.5 | 5.9 |
| Attack Vector | Network | Network | Network |
| Attack Complexity | High | Low | High |
| Privileges Required | None | None | None |
| User Interaction | None | None | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | None | None |
| Integrity Impact | None | None | None |
| Availability Impact | High | High | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Red Hat CVSS v3 Score Explanation
This vulnerability is rated Moderate for Red Hat Enterprise Linux because the impact is confined to client-side denial of service and requires an explicit, non-default feature configuration. FreeRDP does not enable serial device redirection by default, meaning an attacker-controlled RDP server can only trigger descriptor exhaustion if the client session specifically opted into serial forwarding. Additionally, the flaw affects only availability without impacting system confidentiality or data integrity.
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)
If an attacker can trigger the allocation of the limited resources, but the number or size of the resources is not controlled, then the most common result is denial of service. This would prevent valid users from accessing the product, and it could potentially have an impact on the surrounding environment, i.e., the product may slow down, crash due to unhandled errors, or lock out legitimate users. For example, a memory exhaustion attack against an application could slow down the application as well as its host operating system.
Access Control,Other
Technical Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism; Other
In some cases it may be possible to force the product to "fail open" in the event of resource exhaustion. The state of the product -- and possibly the security functionality - may then be compromised.
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