Changelog

Last Updated: October 22, 2026

VesselRDP 0.4.1-beta.1BetaLatest

October 22, 2026

New Features

  • SSH Terminal Tabs: Open SSH sessions in tabs next to your RDP ones. Vessel RDP runs your system OpenSSH inside a built-in terminal, so your ~/.ssh/config, keys, ssh-agent and known_hosts all work unchanged. Includes colors, scrollback, mouse selection, copy and paste, zoom, and one-key reconnect. New in beta: not yet verified against every server setup, so please report anything odd.
  • RDP and SSH in One Connection Manager: New connections start with a protocol picker. SSH servers sit in the same folder tree as RDP servers, with their own icon and badge, and an SSH settings page for host, port, user, optional custom key, jump host (ssh -J), keepalive interval and per-server agent forwarding.
  • Enterprise SSH Policy: Administrators can restrict SSH through an [ssh] section in /etc/vesselrdp/policy.toml: disable it entirely, allow only listed hosts, or forbid agent forwarding. A user policy file can only tighten the system one, and an unreadable policy blocks SSH instead of being ignored.

Privacy & Security

  • No SSH Secrets Stored: SSH passwords, key passphrases and MFA codes are typed into the terminal and handled by OpenSSH itself; Vessel RDP never stores or logs them. The command is built as an argument list, never through a shell, and escape sequences from the remote host are treated as untrusted.
  • Crash Reports Without Server Addresses: Server addresses, ports and usernames are no longer written to the log lines that crash reports can carry, and the report scrubber now removes every occurrence of your home directory and username. The first-run consent dialog wording now matches what is actually sent.
  • TLS Dependency Security Updates: Updated the TLS and QUIC libraries behind the Entra ID token exchange to fix twelve published security advisories, including a certificate verification issue.

Improvements

  • FreeRDP 3.32.2: The bundled FreeRDP moved to 3.32.2. The microphone artifact fix Vessel RDP previously carried as its own patch is now included upstream.
  • Per-Server Rendering Scale: A new rendering-scale setting (100%, 85% or 70%) lets you trade sharpness for smoothness independently of the quality preset.
  • Smoother Mouse Wheel and Horizontal Scrolling: Wheel movement is now accumulated so fine-grained touchpad scrolling feels right, horizontal scrolling works, and scroll direction is encoded correctly.

VesselRDP 0.4.0Beta

September 4, 2026

New Features

  • Sandboxed Folder Redirection: Seamlessly share designated local Linux folders into your remote Windows desktop sessions (\tsclient\<label>). Engineered with a pure-Rust containment layer that prevents directory traversal attacks and symlink escapes.
  • Native Portal Folder Picker: Integrated native folder selection dialogs powered by the XDG Desktop Portal (rfd), ensuring seamless and secure folder selection whether running directly or from portable environments.
  • Hardware-Decoupled Mouse Cursor: Mouse pointer tracking is now handled locally at full native refresh rates without waiting on network round-trips, eliminating cursor lag and the double-cursor artifact while dynamically synchronizing server pointer shapes.
  • Enterprise Policy Engine: System administrators can now deploy centralized security lockdown policies via /etc/vesselrdp/policy.toml, including mandatory read-only enforcement, allowed directory root whitelists, and global feature kill-switches.

Improvements

  • Security Audit Logging: Detailed, structured logging of all folder share validation attempts, containment states, and administrative policy decisions written to drive_audit.log with automatic 5 MB log rotation.
  • Modernized Standard Library Slice Processing: Migrated frame presentation and clipboard decoding to standard library compile-time slice chunking (as_chunks), improving compiler optimizations and safety bounds.
  • Multi-Session Entra ID Process Isolation: Subprocess webview handlers for Azure AD authentication now register unique D-Bus application IDs per process, preventing registration race conditions when multiple corporate tabs connect concurrently.
  • Resilient Clipboard Lifecycle Management: Added connect-time deduplication, stale monitor sweeps, and instance-wide teardown hooks for clipboard synchronization across gateway reconnects and Azure Virtual Desktop broker redirects.

Privacy & Security

  • Remote Safe-Deletion Directory Guard: Bundled a security patch for FreeRDP preventing remote Windows servers from recursively deleting local directories on delete-on-close requests and locking down share root deletion.
  • Strict Path Containment & Hard Refusal: Proactively refuses requests to share sensitive host locations (including filesystem root, home directory, credential keyrings, /etc, /proc, and /sys), ensuring folders remain strictly isolated.
  • Enhanced TOFU Certificate Pinning: Hardened Trust-On-First-Use validation requiring both subject and issuer to match for silent certificate rotation, backed by a 5-second database busy timeout to eliminate transient concurrency failures.

Bug Fixes

  • Entra ID MFA GDK Initialization Panic: Fixed an issue where opening multiple simultaneous Azure AD login sessions could race on GDK display initialization and crash the authentication helper.
  • Clipboard Monitor Thread Leaks: Fixed an issue where connection broker redirects could leave orphaned clipboard monitor threads polling freed channel context memory.

VesselRDP 0.3.0Beta

July 26, 2026

New Features

  • Hardware-Accelerated Graphics: Remote graphics are now delivered over the RDP Graphics Pipeline with H.264 decoding on by default, replacing the legacy software rendering path for smoother, more efficient sessions.
  • In-App Help & Diagnostics: A new Help overlay shows the app version, key session shortcuts, and where to find your crash log — no need to dig through folders to file a useful bug report.
  • Redesigned Session Toolbar: The floating Disconnect / Ctrl+Alt+Del bar now auto-hides, can be dragged to reposition, and can be pinned in place, so it no longer permanently covers your remote desktop.
  • Local Crash Diagnostics: Unexpected crashes are now logged locally with useful context, so a report can be attached without needing to reproduce the issue live.
  • Keyboard-Accessible Interface: The server list, session tabs, and toolbar are now fully operable from the keyboard — Tab to move between them, Enter or Space to activate, and Delete or F2 on a focused server entry to delete or rename it, no mouse required.

Improvements

  • Stable Audio During Resize: Resizing the window no longer interrupts remote audio playback.
  • New Beta Release Channel: Builds are now published as permanent, versioned releases instead of a rolling alpha build, so past versions stay available and issues can be traced to a specific build.
  • Smoother Entra ID Certificate Renewals: When your organization routinely rotates its Entra ID certificate, VesselRDP now shows a calm "certificate renewed" notice instead of an alarming security warning — a genuinely new or unexpected certificate still stops you and asks for confirmation.
  • Self-Healing Local Storage: If VesselRDP's local database or trusted-certificate store is ever corrupted — for example after an unclean shutdown — it now automatically sets the damaged file aside and starts fresh instead of refusing to launch or failing every certificate check.
  • More Reliable Clipboard Sync on Redirected Sessions: Fixed an issue where a session redirected through a connection broker (common with Azure Virtual Desktop) could leave clipboard sync in an inconsistent state, occasionally causing copy/paste to behave unpredictably.

Privacy & Security

  • Stronger Credential Protection: The local credential encryption key's file permissions are now re-verified every time it's read, not just when it's created, closing a window where a misconfigured backup or process could silently weaken protection.
  • Tightened Certificate Trust Rules: Closed a narrow edge case in certificate-rotation handling to keep trust-on-first-use protections strict.
  • Codec Licensing Compliance: Fixed an issue that could unintentionally bundle an optional video codec library not covered by the AppImage's licensing terms.
  • Software Bill of Materials: Every beta release now ships with a verifiable software bill of materials (SBOM), so you can see exactly what's inside a download.

Bug Fixes

  • Caps Lock Sync: Caps Lock state now correctly reflects on the remote session.
  • Clipboard Session Crash: Fixed a crash that could occur when disconnecting a session with clipboard sync enabled.
  • Azure AD / Entra ID Sign-In: Sign-in no longer hangs indefinitely on a stalled login window, and no longer fails when launched alongside certain Snap-packaged apps in the same terminal.
  • Background Tab Errors: A connection error in a background tab no longer interrupts whatever you're doing in the active tab.
  • Accurate Credential Storage Status: The credential badge no longer claims a password is backed up locally when it isn't — it now only reports storage locations that actually exist.
  • Clearer First-Time Guidance: The empty state shown before you've added any servers now actually tells you how to add your first connection, instead of pointing at a sidebar with nothing in it.

VesselRDP 0.2.0Beta

June 10, 2026

New Features

  • Locally-Rendered Cursor: Your mouse cursor now moves instantly, matching your local hardware exactly — no more waiting on the network to see it respond. Only the cursor's appearance (a text-select beam, a resize arrow, a loading spinner) is synced from the remote desktop; where it points is always driven by your own mouse.

Licensing

  • License Update: To ensure sustainable development and long-term enterprise support, VesselRDP has transitioned to a commercial proprietary licensing model.

Privacy & Security

  • Crash Diagnostics: Crash reporting is now strictly opt-out. We employ rigorous PII minimization protocols, automatically stripping user, hostname, and request contexts before telemetry is transmitted.
  • Credential Security & Failure Alerts: If local credential encryption fails, it is no longer silently ignored. The application will warn you explicitly, ensuring your credentials are never saved in cleartext or lost.

Improvements

  • Credential Storage Indicator: Added a status badge inside the server connection settings to show exactly where your password is saved (OS Keyring vs. Local Fallback Database) for improved transparency.
  • Linux System Portability: Enhanced support for running the Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) authentication webview on NixOS and non-x86 architectures (such as ARM64).
  • Actionable Permissions Warnings: Warning messages for credential key files now display the absolute system path instead of shorthand notations, making it easier to resolve configuration issues.

Bug Fixes

  • Multi-Tab Reliability: Resolved a database lockup issue that occurred during concurrent tab connections, preventing duplicate certificate verification prompts.
  • Connection Loop Stability: Fixed potential memory leaks and native application crashes during remote channel teardowns.

VesselRDP 0.1.0Beta

May 15, 2026

New Features

  • Remote Audio Playback: Full support for high-fidelity audio playback from the remote host to the local endpoint.
  • Audio Device Redirection: Added robust support for local microphone redirection, enabling seamless audio conferencing within remote sessions. Includes an always-visible privacy indicator when capture is active.
  • Microsoft Entra ID Integration: Seamless authentication against Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) environments, now fully supported natively on our Linux distributions.
  • Enhanced Session UI: The session control bar now supports intelligent auto-hiding to maximize remote viewport visibility, alongside draggable repositioning and permanent pinning capabilities.

Improvements

  • Actionable Connection Diagnostics: Replaced generic error codes with human-readable connection diagnostics, providing administrators and end-users with clear remediation paths for authentication and network failures.
  • Streamlined Linux Deployment: Introduced universal AppImage distribution, enabling immediate, dependency-free execution across all supported Linux environments.
  • Security & Resilience Enhancements: Hardened certificate validation protocols to strictly prevent man-in-the-middle interception. Additionally, optimized startup sequences to prevent concurrent instance lockouts.

Bug Fixes

  • Input Synchronization: Resolved a synchronization issue affecting Caps Lock state between the local endpoint and the remote host.
  • Authentication Resilience: Fixed a potential application hang during Microsoft Entra ID authentication under constrained network conditions.
  • Session Termination Stability: Resolved a rare segmentation fault occurring during the teardown of clipboard-enabled sessions.

Known Issues

  • Audio Stream Interruptions: We are tracking a known issue where resizing the application viewport may temporarily interrupt remote audio playback until a session reconnect is initiated.
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