7.5

CVSS Score

3.1

-

CVSS Score

Basic Information

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CVE-2026-44316

CVE-2026-44316: free5GC: PCF npcf-smpolicycontrol POST /sm-policies panics on downstream UDR/OpenAPI 404 via nil pointer dereference

free5GC is an open-source implementation of the 5G core network. Prior to 4.2.2, free5GC's PCF POST /npcf-smpolicycontrol/v1/sm-policies handler (HandleCreateSmPolicyRequest) panics with a nil-pointer dereference when a downstream OpenAPI consumer call (UDR lookup) returns 404 Not Found and the consumer wrapper returns err != nil together with a nil response struct. The handler logs the OpenAPI error and continues executing instead of returning, then dereferences the nil response struct on a subsequent line and panics. Gin recovery converts the panic into HTTP 500, so a single attacker-shaped POST returns 500 instead of a clean 4xx whenever the downstream lookup fails. The PCF process keeps running. The trigger is a single POST containing input that causes the downstream UDR lookup to fail (e.g. an unknown DNN). In 4.2.1 this endpoint is also reachable WITHOUT an Authorization header because the PCF Npcf_SMPolicyControl route group is mounted without inbound auth middleware. This vulnerability is fixed in 4.2.2.

(GitHub Advisory)

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CVE-2026-44316

CVE-2026-44316:

7.5

CVSS Score

3.1

-

CVSS Score

Basic Information

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Technical Details

SSVC / BOD 26-04 ↗

Exploitation pocAutomatable YesTech Impact Partial

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Package Name	Ecosystem	Vulnerable Versions	First Patched Version
github.com/free5gc/pcf	go	< 1.4.2	1.4.2

Technical Details

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Root Cause Analysis

The vulnerability is a nil pointer dereference in the HandleCreateSmPolicyRequest function, located in internal/sbi/processor/smpolicy.go. This occurs when a downstream API call to the UDR returns a 404 Not Found error, resulting in a nil response object. The vulnerable code attempted to access a field on this nil object before checking if it was nil, causing a panic. The provided patch df535f5524314620715e842baf9723efbeb481a7 confirms this by moving the line smData = response.SmPolicyData to after the error handling block. The stack trace in the vulnerability description also implicates HTTPCreateSMPolicy in internal/sbi/api_smpolicy.go as the initial handler for the HTTP request that triggers the vulnerability. Therefore, both functions would appear in a runtime profile during exploitation.

Vulnerable functions

processor.Processor.HandleCreateSmPolicyRequest

internal/sbi/processor/smpolicy.go

This function handles the creation of SM policies. It makes a downstream call to UDR, and if that call fails (e.g., returns 404), the response object can be nil. The original code dereferenced this nil object before checking for the error, leading to a panic. The patch moves the dereference to after the error check.

sbi.Server.HTTPCreateSMPolicy

internal/sbi/api_smpolicy.go

This function is the HTTP handler that receives the POST request to `/npcf-smpolicycontrol/v1/sm-policies`. It is responsible for parsing the request and calling the business logic in `HandleCreateSmPolicyRequest`. As it's on the execution path to the panic, it would appear in a runtime profile of the exploit.

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WAF Rule

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Reasoning

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