CellDAM - User-Space, Rootless Detection and Mitigation for 5G Data Plane

Explore a groundbreaking solution for detecting and mitigating attacks on the 5G data plane in this 17-minute conference talk from NSDI '23. Dive into CellDAM, a user-space, rootless approach developed by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles. Learn how this innovative system operates without requiring infrastructure upgrades or changes to existing standards, making it a practical solution for enhancing 5G security. Discover the key insight that data-plane attacks trigger unexpected signaling operations, and understand how CellDAM leverages this to detect both known and unreported attacks through state-dependent model checking. Gain insights into how the system can function with or without firmware access by inferring low-level 5G signaling and configurations. Examine the mitigation strategy that utilizes frequency band switches via existing handover procedures. Evaluate the viability of CellDAM through prototype implementation and empirical testing results presented by the researchers.