Security News > 2020 > December > New 5G Network Flaws Let Attackers Track Users' Locations and Steal Data

The findings form the basis of a new "5G Standalone core security research" published by London-based cybersecurity firm Positive Technologies today, exactly six months after the company released its "Vulnerabilities in LTE and 5G Networks 2020" report in June detailing high impact flaws in LTE and 5G protocols.

Deployed either in standalone or non-standalone modes depending on their reliance on 4G Evolved Packet Core technology, the 5G mobile network is a framework consisting of as many as nine network functions that are responsible for registering subscribers, managing sessions and subscriber profiles, storing subscriber data, and connecting the users to the internet via a base station.

Positive Technologies also found issues with the part of the 5G standard that governs Network Repository Function, which enables registration and discovery of NFs in the control plane, noting that the adversaries could add an already existing network function in the repository to serve subscribers via an NF under their control and access user data.

Separately, a design quirk in the User Data Management module that manages subscriber profile data could permit an adversary with "Access to the relevant interface connect to the UDM directly or by impersonating a network service, and then extract all the necessary information," including location data.

There's no doubting the security advances offered by 5G, but it's also essential that the 5G standard is adequately scrutinized as the number of 5G network users continue to grow each year.

News URL

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheHackersNews/~3/7gJOLgtrzLo/new-5g-network-flaws-let-attackers.html