# CVE-2026-96541: Gnome-remote-desktop: gnome-remote-desktop: unauthenticated rdp sockets lack a handshake deadline

Status: published. Published: 2026-09-23. Updated: 2026-11-03.

A denial-of-service flaw was found in gnome-remote-desktop. An unauthenticated remote attacker can open RDP connections without completing the handshake and retain the connection-throttling slots indefinitely because no pre-authentication handshake deadline is enforced. By exhausting the global connection limit, an attacker can prevent new RDP clients from connecting until a holding socket is closed.

## Remediation

- workaround: Disable the RDP listener when it is not required, or restrict access to the RDP port to trusted networks or hosts at the network boundary. No application-level mitigation that preserves unrestricted RDP access is known. (source: CNA: redhat)

## Affected products and versions

- Red Hat / Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 (gnome-remote-desktop): Version range not reported. Source: CNA: redhat
- Red Hat / Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (gnome-remote-desktop): Version range not reported. Source: CNA: redhat
- Red Hat / Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (gnome-remote-desktop): Version range not reported. Source: CNA: redhat

## Severity and prioritization

- CVSS 3.1: 7.5 (high); CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H; source: CNA: redhat

- CVSS 3.1: 7.5 (high); CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H; source: NVD: secalert@redhat.com

- CISA KEV: No listing in collected sources

- EPSS: 0.91% as of 2026-11-03; percentile 60.09%

- SSVC: exploitation none; automatable no; technical impact total; source ADP: CISA-ADP

- Weaknesses: CWE-400

## Exploit evidence

- exploit: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-remote-desktop/-/issues/356 (ADP: CISA-ADP)

## References

- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-96541 (CNA: redhat; vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT)

- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2539385 (CNA: redhat; issue-tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT)

- https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-remote-desktop/-/issues/356 (CNA: redhat)

- https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-remote-desktop/-/issues/356 (ADP: CISA-ADP; exploit)

- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-96541 (secalert@redhat.com)

- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2539385 (secalert@redhat.com)

- https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-remote-desktop/-/issues/356 (secalert@redhat.com)

- https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-remote-desktop/-/issues/356 (134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0)

## Provenance

- CNA: redhat: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-96541; retrieved 2026-11-03; source updated 2026-11-03

- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-96541; retrieved 2026-11-04; source updated 2026-11-03

- FIRST EPSS: https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2026-96541; retrieved 2026-11-03; source updated Not reported

Revision: 16fb08779b805cea11fb72ca7458f0ed1190eb2344653c963e7a6ac1c397ab1b

Canonical: https://y2.dev/cve/CVE-2026-96541

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