News · written 3 November 2026. A summary for readers, not security advice — check the release notes at the end before relying on any detail.

FreeRDP is a free, open-source implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) — the protocol used to connect to and control another computer's desktop over a network. It runs on Linux, macOS and Windows, and many remote-desktop tools are built on it.

What happened

On 2 November 2026 the FreeRDP team released version 3.33.0. The release post says it comes with "the usual bugfix and CVE fixes", and lists 13 GitHub security advisories addressed in this version. The team also says the amount of feedback was so large that a patch release for the remaining "papercuts" will follow soon.

What is new

• WebAssembly support — FreeRDP can now run from within a web browser.
• Improved RAILS (remote applications shown as local windows) in the SDL client.
• Experimental UDP support for direct RDP connections, without a gateway.
• A Unicode keyboard input pipe in all clients, on systems that support Unix-style named pipes.
• Experimental Windows shadow server support, which the team describes as "back from the dead".
• macOS file clipboard support without FUSE, in all clients.
• Initial support for translated messages.

What it means

• If you use a FreeRDP-based client — directly, or through a Linux distribution or another app — the security fixes are the main reason to update. Many people get FreeRDP from their operating system's package manager, so the update may arrive there after the upstream release.
• Remote desktop in a browser tab is the eye-catching change: WebAssembly lets the same client code run without installing a native app.
• The UDP and Windows shadow server features are marked experimental, so expect rough edges — and the promised patch release.

Sources

• FreeRDP — 3.33.0 release, 2 November 2026 (features, the 13 security advisories, the upcoming patch release).
• FreeRDP — release downloads.
• GitHub — FreeRDP security advisories.

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