CVE-2023-37018
Open5Gs ≤ 2.6.4
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). EPSS scores by FIRST (EPSS SIG), generated by Empirical Security. Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2023-37018 is a high-severity Reachable Assertion (CWE-617) vulnerability in Open5Gs. Its CVSS base score is 8.6 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Defense Impairment (T1687); ranked in the top 44% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2023-37018 is a vulnerability in Open5GS Mobility Management Entity (MME) versions up to and including 2.6.4. It involves a reachable assertion (CWE-617) that can be remotely triggered by a malformed ASN.1 packet over the S1AP interface. An attacker sends a UE Capability Info Indication message missing the required MME_UE_S1AP_ID field, causing the assertion to fail.
The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.6 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H), indicating high severity due to network accessibility, low attack complexity, no privileges or user interaction required, changed scope, and high availability impact. Any unauthenticated remote attacker with access to the S1AP interface can exploit it by transmitting the malformed message, crashing the MME process. Repeated exploitation results in sustained denial of service against the MME.
Mitigation details are available in the advisory published at https://cellularsecurity.org/ransacked.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-40938
Vulnerability Data
Open5GS MME versions <= 2.6.4 contains an assertion that can be remotely triggered via a malformed ASN.1 packet over the S1AP interface. An attacker may send a `UE Capability Info Indication` message missing a required `MME_UE_S1AP_ID` field to repeatedly crash…
more
the MME, resulting in denial of service.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation finds reachable assertions during development.
Security engineering principles discourage use of assertions for handling untrusted input.
Validating untrusted inputs structurally prevents attacker data from reaching and triggering assertions.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Secure SDLC practices directly prevent unsafe assertions from being coded in reachable paths.
Runtime monitoring of software can detect assertion-triggered crashes as adverse events.
Vulnerability identification processes can discover and record reachable-assertion flaws before deployment.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing in development can detect reachable assertions before release, reducing the likelihood of exploitation.
Secure coding standards explicitly ban the use of assert() or equivalent statements that can be triggered by external input.