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Free5GC PCF: Missing authentication middleware in Npcf_SMPolicyControl allows access to SM policy handlers and disclosure of subscriber SUPI

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published May 7, 2026 in free5gc/free5gc • Updated May 7, 2026

Package

gomod github.com/free5gc/pcf (Go)

Affected versions

< 1.4.3

Patched versions

1.4.3

Description

Summary

PCF Npcf_SMPolicyControl missing authentication middleware allows unauthenticated access to SM policy handlers and disclosure of subscriber SUPI

Details

In NewServer(), the smPolicyGroup route group is created and routes are applied without attaching the router authorization middleware. In contrast, other PCF service groups such as Npcf_PolicyAuthorization do attach RouterAuthorizationCheck before route registration.

Because the middleware is missing, requests to the following endpoints can reach business logic even when no valid OAuth token is provided:

  • POST /npcf-smpolicycontrol/v1/sm-policies
  • GET /npcf-smpolicycontrol/v1/sm-policies/{smPolicyId}
  • POST /npcf-smpolicycontrol/v1/sm-policies/{smPolicyId}/update
  • POST /npcf-smpolicycontrol/v1/sm-policies/{smPolicyId}/delete

This is visible at runtime because unauthenticated requests return business-level responses such as 400 or 404 instead of being rejected with 401 before handler execution. Under valid lab preconditions (existing UE/session context and related policy data), unauthenticated POST /sm-policies can succeed with 201, and unauthenticated GET /sm-policies/{id} can succeed with 200 and return policy context containing subscriber identifiers including supi.

The root cause is missing router auth enforcement for Npcf_SMPolicyControl.
Upstream also fixed this by adding RouterAuthorizationCheck to smPolicyGroup (and uePolicyGroup) in free5gc/pcf PR #63.

PoC

  1. Deploy free5GC with PCF reachable on the SBI network.
  2. Use the PoC against the PCF service without an Authorization header:
    go run /home/ubuntu/free5gc/tools/npcf-smpolicy-noauth-poc/main.go \
      --pcf-root /home/ubuntu/free5gc/NFs/pcf \
      --pcf-url http://10.100.200.9:8000 \
      --timeout 4s

Observe that unauthenticated requests to Npcf_SMPolicyControl return business responses instead of 401.

Impact

This is an authentication/authorization bypass on a network-accessible SBI service. Any unauthenticated actor able to reach the PCF SBI interface can invoke Npcf_SMPolicyControl handlers directly.

References

@Alonza0314 Alonza0314 published to free5gc/free5gc May 7, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database May 7, 2026
Reviewed May 7, 2026
Last updated May 7, 2026

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N

EPSS score

Weaknesses

Missing Authorization

The product does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2026-42083

GHSA ID

GHSA-6rgm-gr97-x3j5

Source code

Credits

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