VulnerabilityPublished 6 Feb 2026Updated 23 Feb 2026

CVE-2026-1975: Free5GC · NULL Pointer Dereference

Affects Free5GCSource CVE Database V5

Public exploit available · CVSS 6.9 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 11:42 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score

6.9Medium

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

EPSS: 0.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 48% 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 6 Feb 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: evidence found.
CVSS exploit maturity: proof of concept public
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), CVSS vector, the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

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 or the CVSS exploit maturity 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
Free5GC	Affected =4.0 =4.1.0	Fixed in–
GitHubfree5gc/free5gc`pkg:github/free5gc/free5gc`Other threats	Affected =4.0 =4.1.0	Fixed in–

CPE configurations (1)

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

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

AI-suggested

Apply official patches or updates from the Free5GC project as soon as they become available to address the null pointer dereference vulnerability.
If patches are not immediately available, implement network segmentation and firewall rules to restrict access to Free5GC management and control interfaces, limiting exposure to trusted internal networks only.
Deploy intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS) with signatures or heuristics capable of detecting anomalous PFCP messages or malformed packets targeting the identityTriggerType function.
Monitor Free5GC logs and system metrics for signs of crashes or abnormal behavior indicative of exploitation attempts.
Conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing focused on 5G core components to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities proactively.
Employ redundancy and failover mechanisms in 5G core network architecture to minimize service disruption in case of component failure.
Educate network operations teams about this vulnerability and ensure incident response plans include procedures for handling potential DoS attacks against 5G core infrastructure.
Limit exposure of Free5GC services to the public internet unless absolutely necessary, and use VPNs or secure tunnels for remote access.

Description

A security flaw has been discovered in Free5GC up to 4.1.0. This impacts the function identityTriggerType of the file pfcp_reports.go. The manipulation results in null pointer dereference. The attack can be executed remotely. The exploit has been released to the public and may be used for attacks. Applying a patch is advised to resolve this issue.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2026-1975 is denial of service against Free5GC-based 5G core network components. Successful exploitation can cause the affected process to crash due to null pointer dereference, leading to service interruptions. This can degrade network availability, affecting subscribers' connectivity and potentially disrupting critical communications services. Organizations relying on Free5GC for 5G core functions may experience outages or degraded performance, impacting customer experience and operational continuity. While the vulnerability does not directly compromise data confidentiality or integrity, the resulting service disruption can have cascading effects on dependent systems and services. In environments where Free5GC is integrated into production networks, this could affect mobile network operators, enterprises deploying private 5G networks, and critical infrastructure sectors relying on 5G connectivity. The ease of remote exploitation without authentication increases the risk of opportunistic attacks, especially if the vulnerable service is exposed to untrusted networks. The public availability of an exploit further elevates the threat, potentially leading to automated attacks or widespread scanning for vulnerable instances.

References

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