How to Test 5G SA Core Security

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Validating security in 5G standalone core network deployments

As mobile network operators transition to 5G Standalone (SA) architectures, ensuring robust security across the core becomes mission-critical. Engineers face complex challenges: validating encryption protocols, authenticating subscriber identities, and securing service-based interfaces (SBIs) against evolving threats. The SA core introduces cloud-native components, dynamic scaling, and service-based architecture - all of which increase the attack surface and demand rigorous testing. Traditional security validation methods fall short in emulating real-world subscriber behavior, traffic patterns, and multi-node interactions.

Engineers must simulate realistic scenarios to uncover vulnerabilities in control and user plane functions, especially across key nodes such as the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), User Plane Function (UPF), and Network Repository Function (NRF). Testing must also account for latency-sensitive applications, Quality of Service (QoS) enforcement, and network slicing, which introduce unique security implications. Without comprehensive, protocol-aware testing, operators risk deploying networks that are vulnerable to denial-of-service attacks, data breaches, and service disruptions.

5G SA core security test solution

Validating 5G SA core security demands rigorous testing of control and user plane interfaces. The Keysight P8900S LoadCore solution uses protocol emulation and subscriber modeling to generate realistic traffic and attack scenarios. It enables automated conformance checks to 3GPP TS 33.501, NIST Zero Trust principles, and ETSI NFV security standards. With native support for UE simulation and dynamic traffic flows, LoadCore identifies security gaps before deployment and supports continuous validation in CI/CD environments.

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