CVE-2026-1682
Published: 30 January 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-1682 is a medium-severity Improper Resource Shutdown or Release (CWE-404) vulnerability in Free5Gc Free5Gc. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 12.8th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Likely Mitigating ControlsAI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Contingency plan updates incorporate proper resource shutdown and release steps, preventing attackers from leveraging incomplete cleanup during recovery scenarios.
Mandates explicit shutdown of the network connection at session conclusion, directly addressing improper resource release.
Requires proper shutdown/release procedures that include overwriting or isolating data to block unintended transfer via reused system objects.
Procedures can mandate orderly shutdown or release of resources when failures occur, preventing improper resource handling after a fault.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Null dereference in network-exposed PFCP handler enables remote unauthenticated exploitation of public-facing app (T1190) resulting in application DoS via crafted requests (T1499.004).
NVD Description
A flaw has been found in Free5GC SMF up to 4.1.0. Affected is the function HandlePfcpAssociationReleaseRequest of the file internal/pfcp/handler/handler.go of the component PFCP UDP Endpoint. Executing a manipulation can lead to null pointer dereference. The attack may be launched…
more
remotely. The exploit has been published and may be used. A patch should be applied to remediate this issue.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2026-1682 is a null pointer dereference vulnerability (CWE-404, CWE-476) in the Free5GC SMF (Session Management Function) up to version 4.1.0. The flaw affects the HandlePfcpAssociationReleaseRequest function within the PFCP UDP Endpoint component, specifically in the file internal/pfcp/handler/handler.go. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.3 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L), indicating medium severity with low availability impact but no confidentiality or integrity effects.
The vulnerability can be exploited remotely by unauthenticated attackers over the network with low complexity and no user interaction required. Successful exploitation triggers a null pointer dereference, potentially causing a denial-of-service condition through application crashes or instability in the PFCP UDP Endpoint handling.
GitHub advisories in free5gc/free5gc issue #794 and related comments detail the issue, with a patch available in free5gc/smf pull request #188. Security practitioners should apply this patch to remediate the vulnerability.
An exploit for this issue has been publicly disclosed, increasing the risk of targeted attacks against exposed Free5GC SMF deployments.
Details
- CWE(s)