CVE-2026-1739VulnerabilityPublished 2 Feb 2026Updated 23 Feb 2026

CVE-2026-1739: Free5GC pcf · NULL Pointer Dereference

Affects Free5GC pcfSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.9 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score

6.9Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 55% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P

Base metrics

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Attack Requirements: None
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None
Vulnerable system integrity: None
Vulnerable system availability: Low
Subsequent system confidentiality: None
Subsequent system integrity: None
Subsequent system availability: None

Threat metrics

Exploit Maturity: POC

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable system is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed below, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed “remotely exploitable” and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: The attacker must take no measurable action to exploit the vulnerability. The attack requires no target-specific circumvention to exploit the vulnerability. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: None: The successful attack does not depend on the deployment and execution conditions of the vulnerable system. The attacker can expect to be able to reach the vulnerability and execute the exploit under all or most instances of the vulnerability.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files of the vulnerable system to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without interaction from any human user, other than the attacker.
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the Vulnerable System are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Subsequent System or all confidentiality impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Subsequent System or all integrity impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Subsequent System or all availability impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Exploit Maturity: POC: Based on threat intelligence sources each of the following must apply: · Proof-of-concept is publicly available · No knowledge of reported attempts to exploit this vulnerability · No knowledge of publicly available solutions used to simplify attempts to exploit the vulnerability

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v4.0 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 2 Feb 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Free5GCpcf	Affected =1.4.0 =1.4.1	Fixed in–
Gogithub.com/free5gc/pcf`pkg:golang/github.com/free5gc/pcf`Other threats	Affected =1.4.0 =1.4.1	Fixed in–

CPE configurations (1)

cpe:2.3:a:free5gc:pcf:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2026-1739, organizations should immediately apply the official patch identified by commit df535f5524314620715e842baf9723efbeb481a7 to update Free5GC pcf to a fixed version. In addition to patching, network operators should implement strict network segmentation and firewall rules to restrict access to the pcf interfaces, allowing only trusted management and network elements to communicate with it. Monitoring and logging of pcf service health and anomalous requests can help detect potential exploitation attempts early. Employing rate limiting on pcf API endpoints may reduce the risk of denial-of-service attacks exploiting this vulnerability. Regularly updating Free5GC components and subscribing to security advisories will ensure timely awareness of new vulnerabilities and patches. Finally, conducting security testing and validation of 5G core network components before deployment can help identify similar issues proactively.

Description

A vulnerability has been found in Free5GC pcf up to 1.4.1. This affects the function HandleCreateSmPolicyRequest of the file internal/sbi/processor/smpolicy.go. The manipulation leads to null pointer dereference. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. The exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used. The identifier of the patch is df535f5524314620715e842baf9723efbeb481a7. Applying a patch is the recommended action to fix this issue.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2026-1739 is denial of service against the Free5GC pcf component, which can cause interruption of policy control functions in 5G core networks. This disruption can degrade or halt network services that rely on dynamic policy enforcement, affecting subscriber experience and potentially causing outages in mobile network operator environments. Since the pcf is a critical network function, its failure can impact network availability and operational stability. However, the vulnerability does not allow for privilege escalation, data leakage, or unauthorized access, limiting the impact to availability. Organizations deploying Free5GC in production 5G networks, especially those using versions 1.4.0 and 1.4.1, are at risk of service disruption if this vulnerability is exploited. The remote and unauthenticated nature of the exploit increases the attack surface, making it a concern for operators exposing pcf interfaces to untrusted networks.

References

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