Security News > 2020 > December > Vulnerabilities in Standalone 5G Networks Expose Users to Attacks
Vulnerabilities in the protocols used by standalone 5G network implementations could expose users to information theft, impersonation, and other types of attacks, Positive Technologies warned on Wednesday.
Current 5G networks are non-standalone implementations that are based on the existing 4G LTE infrastructure, but wireless carriers are expected to invest heavily into transitioning to standalone implementations in the next few years.
While the non-standalone 5G networks are prone to attacks targeting flaws in the Diameter and GTP protocols, standalone 5G networks can be attacked through vulnerabilities in the HTTP/2 and PFCP protocols, Positive Technologies notes in a newly published report.
Positive Technologies notes that other vulnerabilities also impact standalone 5G networks, including some related to subscriber authentication, the disclosure of subscriber profiles, or the creation of sessions impersonating existing subscribers.
"There is a risk that attackers will take advantage of standalone 5G networks while they are being established and operators are getting to grips with potential vulnerabilities. Therefore, security considerations must be addressed by operators from the offset," Dmitry Kurbatov, CTO at Positive Technologies, said.