CVE-2026-2523VulnerabilityPublished 16 Feb 2026Updated 23 Feb 2026

CVE-2026-2523: Open5GS · Reachable Assertion

Affects Open5GSSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.9 Medium.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 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 16 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 2026-10-25.

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
Open5GS	Affected =2.7.0 =2.7.1 =2.7.2 =2.7.3 =2.7.4 =2.7.5 =2.7.6	Fixed in–

CPE configurations (1)

cpe:2.3:a:open5gs:open5gs:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

AI-suggested

1. Immediate mitigation involves restricting network exposure of the SMF interfaces to trusted and internal networks only, using firewalls and access control lists to block unauthorized access. 2. Monitor network traffic and logs for unusual or malformed PDP context creation requests that could trigger the assertion failure. 3. Apply custom patches or code modifications to the smf_gn_handle_create_pdp_context_request function to add input validation and handle assertion conditions gracefully until an official patch is released. 4. Engage with the Open5GS community and maintain awareness for forthcoming official patches or updates addressing this vulnerability. 5. Implement redundancy and failover mechanisms in the 5G core network to minimize service disruption if the SMF component crashes. 6. Conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing focused on 5G core components to detect similar vulnerabilities proactively. 7. Educate network operations teams about this vulnerability and establish incident response plans specific to 5G core network disruptions. 8. Consider deploying network-level anomaly detection systems capable of identifying exploitation attempts targeting this vulnerability.

Description

A vulnerability was detected in Open5GS up to 2.7.6. The affected element is the function smf_gn_handle_create_pdp_context_request of the file /src/smf/gn-handler.c of the component SMF. The manipulation results in reachable assertion. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. The exploit is now public and may be used. The project was informed of the problem early through an issue report but has not responded yet.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2026-2523 is denial of service through crashing the SMF component of Open5GS, which can disrupt session management in 5G core networks. This disruption can lead to loss of connectivity for users relying on affected networks, impacting telecommunications providers and their customers. The vulnerability affects confidentiality and integrity minimally but poses a significant risk to availability. Organizations using Open5GS in production or testing environments may experience service outages, degraded network performance, or require emergency maintenance to restore functionality. The exploitability without authentication and user interaction increases the risk of automated attacks targeting exposed 5G core network interfaces. Given the increasing adoption of Open5GS in private and public 5G deployments worldwide, the potential scope of impact is broad, especially for operators leveraging open-source solutions. Additionally, disruption in 5G core services can have cascading effects on dependent services such as IoT, critical communications, and enterprise applications. The absence of an official patch heightens the urgency for organizations to implement interim mitigations to maintain network reliability.

References

Community reviews

Loading reviews…