CVE-2023-40187 Use-After-Free in FreeRDP

High 7.3 Published 31 Aug 2023 Updated 13 Feb 2025

A use-after-free flaw in FreeRDP allows attackers to potentially execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service via crafted RDP data.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Not needed
Attackable: Over the internet
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2023-40187?

CVE-2023-40187 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Freerdp Freerdp, published on 31 Aug 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

FreeRDP is a free implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), released under the Apache license. Affected versions of the 3.x beta branch are subject to a Use-After-Free issue in the `avc420_ensure_buffer` and `avc444_ensure_buffer` functions. If the value of `piDstSize[x]` is 0, `ppYUVDstData[x]` will be freed. However, in this case `ppYUVDstData[x]` will not have been updated which leads to a Use-After-Free vulnerability. This issue has been addressed in version 3.0.0-beta3. Users of the 3.x beta releases are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

Weakness: CWE-416

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-40187?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Freerdp Freerdp.

How do I fix CVE-2023-40187?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-40187 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.

Is CVE-2023-40187 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-40187 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Freerdp Freerdp vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as GHSA-pwf9-v5p9-ch4f.