CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2026-31883 — FreeRDP is a free implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol

Critical CVSS 9.8

FreeRDP is a free implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol. Prior to 3.24.0, a size_t underflow in the IMA-ADPCM and MS-ADPCM audio decoders leads to heap-buffer-overflow write via the RDPSND audio channel. In libfreerdp/codec/dsp.c, the IMA-ADPCM and MS-ADPCM decoders subtract block header sizes from a size_t variable without checking for underflow. When nBlockAlign (received from the server) is set such that size % block_size == 0 triggers the header parsing at a point where size is smaller than the header (4 or 8 bytes), the subtraction wraps size to ~SIZE_MAX. The while (size > 0) loop then continues for an astronomical number of iterations. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.24.0.

Severity
Critical
CVSS
9.8 (3.1)
Published
2026-03-13
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-122, CWE-191

Affected products

  • freerdp / freerdp

Matched remediation archetype

Buffer bounds, memory safety, and memory corruption

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Check exposure

  • Identify affected native-code versions, build flags, architectures, parsers, codecs, drivers, and input paths in all shipped artifacts.
  • Determine whether untrusted data reaches the affected routine and the process privilege, sandbox, and network exposure.
  • Confirm statically linked, vendored, firmware, and platform-provided copies, not only package-manager records.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the maintained upstream correction or replace the affected component, then rebuild every dependent artifact from clean inputs.
  • Adopt bounds-checked interfaces, validated sizes and integer conversions, clear ownership, and memory-safe components where practical.
  • Enable supported compiler and runtime hardening and add sanitized tests and fuzz regression seeds derived from non-weaponized fixtures.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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