CVE-2026-1739
Published: 02 February 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-1739 is a medium-severity Improper Resource Shutdown or Release (CWE-404) vulnerability in Free5Gc Pcf. 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 13.9th 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 exposed PCF SBI handler directly enables remote unauthenticated exploitation of a public-facing 5G network function (T1190) resulting in application crash and DoS (T1499.004).
NVD Description
A vulnerability has been found in Free5GC pcf up to 1.4.1. This affects the function HandleCreateSmPolicyRequest of the file internal/sbi/processor/smpolicy.go. The manipulation leads to null pointer dereference. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. The exploit has been…
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disclosed to the public and may be used. The identifier of the patch is df535f5524314620715e842baf9723efbeb481a7. Applying a patch is the recommended action to fix this issue.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2026-1739 is a null pointer dereference vulnerability in the Free5GC Policy Control Function (PCF) component, affecting versions up to 1.4.1. The issue resides in the HandleCreateSmPolicyRequest function within the file internal/sbi/processor/smpolicy.go. It is classified under CWE-404 (Improper Resource Shutdown or Release) and CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference), with 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 primarily impacting availability.
An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability by manipulating the HandleCreateSmPolicyRequest function, leading to a denial-of-service condition through a crash caused by the null pointer dereference. The attack requires low complexity, no user interaction, and no privileges, making it feasible over the network without changing the scope of impact.
Mitigation is available via a patch identified by the commit hash df535f5524314620715e842baf9723efbeb481a7, accessible through the Free5GC PCF GitHub repository. Applying this patch is the recommended fix, as detailed in related GitHub issues #803 and pull request #62. The exploit has been publicly disclosed and may be usable by attackers.
Details
- CWE(s)