Reference page — cumulative record through Wednesday, August 19, 2026 UTC. Reference pages update as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record.
free5GC: PCF npcf-smpolicycontrol POST /sm-policies panics on downstream UDR/OpenAPI 404 via nil pointer dereference
AV AC PR UI S C I A CVSS EPSS %ile KEV
N L N N U N N H 7.5 .0040 33.8 —
AFFECTED
Product Versions Fixed
free5gc < 4.2.2 – —
TIMELINE
May 5 Reserved by GitHub_M
May 27 EXPLOIT PUBLISHED — CVE-2026-44316 (free5gc). Public exploit reference added.
May 27 Published (CNA: GitHub_M)
Description
free5GC is an open-source implementation of the 5G core network. Prior to 4.2.2, free5GC's PCF POST /npcf-smpolicycontrol/v1/sm-policies handler (HandleCreateSmPolicyRequest) panics with a nil-pointer dereference when a downstream OpenAPI consumer call (UDR lookup) returns 404 Not Found and the consumer wrapper returns err != nil together with a nil response struct. The handler logs the OpenAPI error and continues executing instead of returning, then dereferences the nil response struct on a subsequent line and panics. Gin recovery converts the panic into HTTP 500, so a single attacker-shaped POST returns 500 instead of a clean 4xx whenever the downstream lookup fails. The PCF process keeps running. The trigger is a single POST containing input that causes the downstream UDR lookup to fail (e.g. an unknown DNN). In 4.2.1 this endpoint is also reachable WITHOUT an Authorization header because the PCF Npcf_SMPolicyControl route group is mounted without inbound auth middleware. This vulnerability is fixed in 4.2.2.
Lifecycle
Complete event history — 3 events, chronological
| Date | Event | Detail |
|---|
| May 5, 2026 | Reserved | Reserved by GitHub_M |
| May 27, 2026 | EXPLOIT PUBLISHED | EXPLOIT PUBLISHED — CVE-2026-44316 (free5gc). Public exploit reference added. |
| May 27, 2026 | Published | Published (CNA: GitHub_M) |
Affected
Affected products and packages — 1 row
| Vendor | Product / Package | Ecosystem | Version introduced | Fixed |
|---|
| free5gc | free5gc | — | < 4.2.2 | — |
About this page
This is a reference page, not a dated page of record. It assembles the complete lifecycle of CVE-2026-44316 from the CVE Program record, NVD enrichment, the CISA KEV catalog, EPSS, and OSV advisories. The box score's numbers (CVSS, EPSS, KEV status) are current as of Wednesday, August 19, 2026 UTC and are re-derived as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record. The authoritative source for this identifier is cve.org.