CVE-2026-72746 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Improper Authentication vulnerability. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2026-72746 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
FreeRDP before 3.30.0 contains a server-side authentication bypass in the RDSTLS handshake. When a server is configured with RdstlsSecurity = TRUE, the handshake dispatches inbound…
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2026-72746.
Description
FreeRDP before 3.30.0 contains a server-side authentication bypass in the RDSTLS handshake. When a server is configured with RdstlsSecurity = TRUE, the handshake dispatches inbound PDUs based solely on the attacker-supplied wire pduType without verifying that the received PDU is the one required at the current step. Because the rdpRdstls object is calloc-zeroed, its resultCode defaults to 0 (RDSTLS_RESULT_SUCCESS). An unauthenticated remote client can send a Capabilities PDU instead of the required Authentication Request PDU; rdstls_process_capabilities() returns success without ever setting resultCode, so the server responds with an AUTHRSP carrying resultCode SUCCESS and treats the session as authenticated without evaluating any password, redirection GUID, or auto-reconnect cookie. This affects the released FreeRDP 3.x series (e.g., 3.27.1) and master HEAD; at the time of the advisory no patched version was available.
Detection & mitigation playbook
VulnerabilityDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for the affected component. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Remediation status
No patched version of the affected component has shipped for CVE-2026-72746 yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
Mitigate without a patch
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2026-72746 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2026-72746. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-72746 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2026-72746 across dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.