Novel 5G Attack Bypasses Need for Malicious Base Station

A team of researchers from the Singapore University of Technology and Design has disclosed the details of a new 5G attack that does not require the use of a malicious base station.

As part of the project, the researchers have released a framework named Sni5Gect that can be used to sniff messages and perform message injection in 5G communications. The attack targets the 5G New Radio (NR) radio access technology that powers 5G networks.

Previously demonstrated 5G attacks involved the use of a rogue base station that the victim needs to connect to, which can limit the practicality of an attack, the researchers said.

The Sni5Gect attack, on the other hand, involves an attacker who is in range of the victim intercepting unencrypted messages exchanged between the base station and the targeted user’s phone.

The attack targets the connection before authentication and before the traffic is protected, which means ...