5G/O-RAN Security Automated Testing

Open Radio Access Network (RAN) will enable the disaggregation of RAN components, promoting innovation among specialized RAN vendors. The integration between disparate RAN components increases the attack surface, making the network more susceptible to attack. Booz Allen in collaboration with Virginia Tech developed an O-RAN fuzz testing tool for the purpose of testing 5G O-RAN interfaces and protocols to identify vulnerabilities that would be pursued by cyber threat agents. The fuzz tester tool developed is a software defined ‘false’ UE designed to connect the 5G O-RAN network, intercept and mutate outgoing uplink traffic, and send this new malformed packet to the target network. The initial fuzz tester set up includes test-case input generation, injection of the test case attack corpus, and how to view and interpret packet captures indicating the effectiveness and potential impact of attacks on the network.