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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2026-26024: free5gc smf · NULL Pointer Dereference

Affects free5gc smfSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.6 Medium.

Data as of 29 Oct 2026, 19:04 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score
6.6Medium
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 28% 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:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 24 Feb 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponized: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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 29 Oct 2026.

What to do

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
free5gcsmfAffected
  • <=1.4.1
Fixed in–
GitHubfree5gc/smfpkg:github/free5gc/smfOther threatsAffected
  • <=1.4.1
Fixed in–

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-2026-26024, organizations should implement the following specific measures: 1) Restrict access to the PFCP interface (UDP port 8805) using ACLs or firewalls to allow only trusted User Plane Function (UPF) IP addresses. This reduces the attack surface by preventing unauthorized or spoofed PFCP messages from reaching the SMF. 2) Deploy network edge filtering or deep packet inspection to detect and drop malformed PFCP SessionReportRequest messages before they reach the SMF. This can be done using specialized network security appliances or custom filtering rules. 3) Modify the SMF codebase to add recover() or equivalent exception handling around the PFCP handler dispatch logic to prevent the entire SMF process from terminating on malformed input. This is a mitigation only until an official patch is released. 4) Monitor SMF logs and network traffic for unusual PFCP message patterns or repeated crashes to detect potential exploitation attempts early. 5) Plan for rapid incident response and failover mechanisms to maintain service continuity if the SMF becomes unavailable. 6) Stay updated with free5GC project releases and apply official patches promptly once available. These mitigations go beyond generic advice by focusing on network-level controls and code-level resilience specific to the PFCP interface and SMF behavior.

Description

free5GC SMF provides Session Management Function for free5GC, an open-source project for 5th generation (5G) mobile core networks. In versions up to and including 1.4.1, SMF panics and terminates when processing a malformed PFCP SessionReportRequest on the PFCP (UDP/8805) interface. No known upstream fix is available, but some workarounds are available. ACL/firewall the PFCP interface so only trusted UPF IPs can reach SMF (reduce spoofing/abuse surface); drop/inspect malformed PFCP SessionReportRequest messages at the network edge where feasible, and/or add recover() around PFCP handler dispatch to avoid whole-process termination (mitigation only).

References

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