High [CVE-2026-72746] Authentication bypass in RDSTLS handshake via PDU-type confusion
This high-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-72746 affecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat package: freerdp.
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Summary
A flaw was found in FreeRDP. An unauthenticated remote attacker could bypass the server-side authentication in the RDSTLS (Remote Desktop Services Transport Layer Security) handshake.
By sending a Capabilities PDU instead of the expected Authentication Request PDU, the server incorrectly processes the request, leading to a successful authentication without validating any credentials. This allows the attacker to gain unauthorized access to a session.
This is an Important flaw where FreeRDP servers configured with RDSTLS security are vulnerable to an authentication bypass. This poses a significant risk to the confidentiality of systems exposing FreeRDP with RDSTLS enabled.
Red Hat severity: Important — CVSS 7.5 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N). Weakness: CWE-1287.
Affected Red Hat products: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10. Red Hat does not currently list a fixing RHSA for this CVE.
Affected products named by the advisory: Red Hat package: freerdp.
Affected versions
No affected-version range was extracted from the source record. The vendor advisory is authoritative — check it before change work.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 1 hour ago·verify at source
Fixed versions
No fixed release is recorded yet. That does not prove no patch exists — confirm against the vendor advisory.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 1 hour ago·verify at source
Mitigation checklist
- To mitigate this issue, ensure that FreeRDP servers are not configured with `RdstlsSecurity = TRUE` unless explicitly required. If `RdstlsSecurity` is necessary, restrict network access to the FreeRDP server to trusted clients only, for example, by implementing firewall rules. Restarting the FreeRDP server may be required for configuration changes to take effect.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 1 hour ago·verify at source
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