Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-37022

DoS in Open5Gs ≤ 2.6.4

Public PoCDoS
Published
22 January 2025
Modified
22 April 2025
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0076 52th percentile
Risk Priority 59 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-37022 is a high-severity Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400) vulnerability in Open5Gs Open5Gs. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique OS Exhaustion Flood (T1499.001); ranked in the top 48% 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 SC-5 (Denial-of-service Protection) and SC-6 (Resource Availability) — 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-2023-37022 is a vulnerability in Open5GS MME versions up to and including 2.6.4, stemming from a reachable assertion in the UE Context Release Request packet handler. An invalid MME_UE_S1AP_ID field in a received packet triggers the assertion, causing the Open5GS MME to crash. This issue is associated with CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) and has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

The vulnerability can be exploited by any unauthenticated attacker with network access to the Open5GS MME. By sending crafted UE Context Release Request packets containing an invalid MME_UE_S1AP_ID, the attacker causes an immediate crash. Repeatedly sending such packets enables sustained denial of service, disrupting MME availability without requiring privileges or user interaction.

Mitigation details are available in the advisory published at https://cellularsecurity.org/ransacked.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Open5GS MME versions <= 2.6.4 contain a reachable assertion in the `UE Context Release Request` packet handler. A packet containing an invalid `MME_UE_S1AP_ID` field causes Open5gs to crash; an attacker may repeatedly send such packets to cause denial of service.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1499.001 OS Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may launch a denial of service (DoS) attack targeting an endpoint's operating system (OS).
T1498 Network Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Network Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of targeted resources to users.
T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Endpoint Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of services to users.
T1499.002 Service Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target the different network services provided by systems to conduct a denial of service (DoS).
T1499.003 Application Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target resource intensive features of applications to cause a denial of service (DoS), denying availability to those applications.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-52288Same product: Open5Gs Open5Gs
CVE-2024-33382Same product: Open5Gs Open5Gs
CVE-2023-50020Same product: Open5Gs Open5Gs
CVE-2023-37014Same product: Open5Gs Open5Gs
CVE-2024-57519Same product: Open5Gs Open5Gs
CVE-2025-63288Same product: Open5Gs Open5Gs
CVE-2024-56921Same product: Open5Gs Open5Gs
CVE-2025-52322Same product: Open5Gs Open5Gs
CVE-2023-50019Same product: Open5Gs Open5Gs
CVE-2025-15532Same product: Open5Gs Open5Gs

Affected Assets

open5gs
open5gs
≤ 2.6.4

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SC-5 directly limits the effects of resource-exhaustion events that constitute uncontrolled consumption.

SC-6 enforces explicit allocation limits on resources, structurally preventing the weakness from occurring.

Process isolation confines resource consumption to separate domains, reducing blast radius without stopping the root flaw.

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.

PR.IR-04 mostly match
prevents

Explicitly requires monitoring and maintaining resource capacity, directly addressing uncontrolled consumption to preserve availability.

DE.CM-09 partial match
prevents

Continuous monitoring of computing resources can detect resource exhaustion but does not itself enforce allocation limits.

PR.IR-03 partial match
prevents

Resilience mechanisms such as avoiding single points of failure indirectly reduce impact of resource exhaustion.

PR.PS-01 partial match
prevents

Hardened configuration baselines can include resource quotas and limits that constrain consumption.

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.

finds

Resource-utilization monitoring and alerting on bottlenecks or overloads limits the impact of denial-of-service or resource-exhaustion attacks.

prevents

By continuously monitoring utilization, stress-testing peak loads, and maintaining documented plans to scale or throttle resources, the control directly limits an attacker’s ability to drive a system into uncontrolled resource exhaustion.

finds

Pre-agreed severity-based prioritization and resource allocation during incident triage reduce the likelihood that an attacker-induced resource exhaustion will overwhelm the organization before corrective action is taken.

mitigates

Business-continuity plans that include resource-management controls reduce the likelihood that an attacker can trigger uncontrolled resource consumption by forcing the system into a degraded or fallback state.

mitigates

Defining RTOs and capacity requirements for ICT services during business-impact analysis forces organizations to provision sufficient resources and throttling mechanisms, reducing the likelihood that an attacker can induce denial-of-service through uncontrolled resource consumption.

finds

Early notification of anomalous resource consumption or system malfunctions enables throttling or isolation before availability is lost.

References