CVE-2026-44327: free5GC's NEF nnef-oam route group is unauthenticated; no-token requests reach the OAM handler

Should you act?

Critical and remotely reachable

No known exploitation yet, but it is network-reachable without credentials. This signal is computed from CISA KEV, EPSS and CVSS data; it is not an editorial verdict.

• Not in CISA KEV, but CISA’s SSVC assessment records a public proof-of-concept, so attack code exists.
• EPSS 0.5%, percentile 44: FIRST’s model estimates a 0.5% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 44% of all scored CVEs (low). EPSS is a probability, not a verdict.
• Remotely reachable with no login and no user interaction. If the vulnerable service is exposed to the internet, prioritize it.
• Only applies if your dependency tree includes github.com/free5gc/nef (Go) <= 1.2.3, no fixed version listed. Check your lockfile, including transitive dependencies.

What it is

free5GC is an open-source implementation of the 5G core network. Prior to 4.2.2, free5GC's NEF mounts the nnef-oam route group without inbound OAuth2/bearer-token authorization. A network attacker who can reach NEF on the SBI can hit the OAM route with no Authorization header at all and the handler returns 200 OK. The current OAM handler is a stub that returns null, but the structural defect is route-group-scoped: the entire OAM route group has no inbound auth middleware, so every future OAM operation added to this group inherits the missing auth boundary by default. This vulnerability is fixed in 4.2.2.

From the GitHub advisory

Summary free5GC's NEF mounts the nnef-oam route group without inbound OAuth2/bearer-token authorization. A network attacker who can reach NEF on the SBI can hit the OAM route with no Authorization header at all and the handler returns 200 OK. The current OAM handler is a stub that returns null, but the structural defect is route-group-scoped: the entire OAM route group has no inbound auth middleware, so every future OAM operation added to this group inherits the missing auth boundary by default. Same root cause as the NEF traffic-influence and PFD-management findings.

Details Validated against the NEF container in the official Docker compose lab. - Source repo tag: v4.2.1 - Running Docker image: free5gc/nef:v4.2.0 - Runtime NEF commit: 5ce35eab - Docker validation date: 2026-03-11

NEF advertises OAuth2 setting receive from NRF: true, yet the OAM route group is mounted without any inbound auth middleware and answers unauthenticated GETs with 200 OK.

Code evidence (paths in free5gc/nef): - OAM route group mounted without auth middleware: NFs/nef/internal/sbi/server.go:60 - OAM route exposed at /: NFs/nef/internal/sbi/apioam.go:9 - OAM processor returns 200 OK directly: NFs/nef/internal/sbi/processor/oam.go:9 - NEF context only exposes outbound token acquisition (GetTokenCtx); there is no inbound authorization path: NFs/nef/internal/context/nefcontext.go:153

PoC Reproduced against the running NEF at http://10.100.200.19:8000 with no Authorization header:

Weakness type: CWE-306, CWE-862.

Product: github.com/free5gc/nef (Go) · Assigned by: GitHub_M · Published: 2026-05-27

Affected and fixed versions

Severity scores

• Attack vector: network (remotely reachable)
• Attack complexity: low
• Privileges required: none (no login)
• User interaction: none
• Scope: changed (can affect other components)

CVSS measures how bad a flaw is if exploited, not how likely exploitation is. Read it next to the exploitation data below.

Exploitation and urgency

• CISA KEV: not listed (no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation known to CISA).
• CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation poc, automatable yes, technical impact partial.
• FIRST EPSS (model of 2026-10-21): 0.53% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 44.

Timeline

• 2026-05-08 — GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-cmpj-2x3g-m7g3 published (critical)
• 2026-05-27 — CVE record published by GitHub_M
• 2026-05-28 — CVE record last updated

Sources and references

Original sources first. Version and fix details should always be confirmed against the vendor or project advisory.

Vulnerability records

1. GitHub Advisory GHSA-cmpj-2x3g-m7g3 github.com
2. CVE.org record CVE-2026-44327 cve.org
3. NVD entry CVE-2026-44327 nvd.nist.gov

Other references from the CVE record and advisory

1. github.com github.com
2. github.com github.com
3. github.com github.com

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