Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-2525

Free5Gc ≤ 4.1.0

Public PoC
Published
16 February 2026
Modified
19 February 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 5.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0049 40th percentile
Risk Priority 39 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-2525 is a medium-severity Improper Resource Shutdown or Release (CWE-404) vulnerability in Free5Gc Free5Gc. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 40th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); 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-2026-2525 is a vulnerability discovered in Free5GC versions up to 4.1.0, affecting an unknown function within the PFCP UDP Endpoint component. Manipulation of this function leads to a denial of service condition. The issue is classified under CWE-404 and 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 impact on availability and no effects on confidentiality or integrity. It was published on 2026-02-16.

The vulnerability enables remote exploitation without requiring user interaction or privileges. Attackers can trigger the denial of service by sending manipulated packets to the PFCP UDP Endpoint, potentially disrupting service availability for affected Free5GC deployments.

References include the Free5GC GitHub repository (https://github.com/free5gc/free5gc/) and specific issues #796 (https://github.com/free5gc/free5gc/issues/796 and https://github.com/free5gc/free5gc/issues/796#issue-3812169865), along with VulDB entries (https://vuldb.com/?ctiid.346113 and https://vuldb.com/?id.346113). The exploit has been publicly disclosed and may be used, though no specific patch or mitigation details are outlined in the provided description.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability has been found in Free5GC up to 4.1.0. This affects an unknown function of the component PFCP UDP Endpoint. Such manipulation leads to denial of service. The attack can be launched remotely. The exploit has been disclosed to…

more

the public and may be used.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
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.
T1499.001 OS Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may launch a denial of service (DoS) attack targeting an endpoint's operating system (OS).
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

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CVE-2026-1684Same product: Free5Gc Free5Gc
CVE-2026-1682Same product: Free5Gc Free5Gc
CVE-2026-1975Same product: Free5Gc Free5Gc
CVE-2026-1973Same product: Free5Gc Free5Gc
CVE-2026-1976Same product: Free5Gc Free5Gc
CVE-2025-60638Same product: Free5Gc Free5Gc
CVE-2023-47025Same product: Free5Gc Free5Gc
CVE-2026-30653Same product: Free5Gc Free5Gc

Affected Assets

free5gc
free5gc
≤ 4.1.0

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing or incorrect resource releases after code is written.

Engineering principles can require explicit resource acquisition/release patterns that stop improper shutdown from being introduced.

Priority-based resource allocation limits the blast radius when released resources are not returned to the pool.

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.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly include coding standards for correct resource allocation and release.

DE.CM-09 partial match
prevents

Runtime monitoring can detect resource exhaustion caused by improper shutdown or release.

ID.AM-08 partial match
prevents

Lifecycle management of assets can encompass proper resource release at end-of-life or shutdown.

PR.IR-04 partial match
prevents

Capacity management helps surface leaks from unreleased resources but does not prevent the coding flaw.

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.

prevents

Including restart, recovery and media-handling instructions reduces the likelihood that resources or sensitive data will be left in an exposed or improperly released state after a failure.

References