5G Puppeteer: Chaining Hidden Command and Control Channels in 5G Core Networks

Computer Science > Cryptography and Security [Submitted on 31 Mar 2026] 5G Puppeteer: Chaining Hidden Command and Control Channels in 5G Core Networks Julian Sturm, Daniel Fraunholz, Oliver Zeidler, Katharina Schaar, Wolfgang Kellerer Mobile networks are essential for modern societies. The most recent generation of mobile networks will be even more ubiquitous than previous ones. Therefore, the security of these networks as part of the critical infrastructure with essential communication services is of the uttermost importance. However, these systems are still vulnerable to being compromised, as showcased in the recent discussion on supply chain security and other challenges. This work addresses problems arising from compromised 5G core network components. The investigations reveal how attacks based on command and control communication can be designed so that they cannot be detected or prevented. This way, various attacks against the security and privacy of subscribers can be performed for which no effective countermeasures are available. Subjects: Cryptography and Security (cs.CR) Cite as: arXiv:2603.29636 [cs.CR]   (or arXiv:2603.29636v1 [cs.CR] for this version)   https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2603.29636 Focus to learn more Submission history From: Julian Sturm [view email] [v1] Tue, 31 Mar 2026 12:00:38 UTC (452 KB) Access Paper: HTML (experimental) view license Current browse context: cs.CR < prev   |   next > new | recent | 2026-03 Change to browse by: cs References & Citations NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar Export BibTeX Citation Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Demos Related Papers About arXivLabs Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)