Privacy-Preserving Identifier Checking in 5G

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2512.08310v1
• Date: Tue, 09 Dec 2025 07:17:39 GMT
• Title: Privacy-Preserving Identifier Checking in 5G
• Abstract summary: Device identifiers like the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) are crucial for ensuring device integrity and meeting regulations in 4G and 5G networks.<n>Sharing these identifiers with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) brings significant privacy risks.<n>We propose a privacy-preserving identifier checking method in 5G.
• Score: 0.1310865248866973
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Device identifiers like the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) are crucial for ensuring device integrity and meeting regulations in 4G and 5G networks. However, sharing these identifiers with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) brings significant privacy risks by enabling long-term tracking and linking of user activities across sessions. In this work, we propose a privacy-preserving identifier checking method in 5G. This paper introduces a protocol for verifying device identifiers without exposing them to the network while maintaining the same functions as the 3GPP-defined Equipment Identity Register (EIR) process. The proposed solution modifies the PEPSI protocol for a Private Set Membership (PSM) setting using the BFV homomorphic encryption scheme. This lets User Equipment (UE) prove that its identifier is not on an operator's blacklist or greylist while ensuring that the MNO only learns the outcome of the verification. The protocol allows controlled deanonymization through an authorized Law Enforcement (LE) hook, striking a balance between privacy and accountability. Implementation results show that the system can perform online verification within five seconds and requires about 15 to 16 MB of communication per session. This confirms its practical use under post-quantum security standards. The findings highlight the promise of homomorphic encryption for managing identifiers while preserving privacy in 5G, laying the groundwork for scalable and compliant verification systems in future 6G networks.

Related papers

• Di5Guise: 5G Privacy with vSIM [0.769971486557519]
  Di5Guise is a privacy-enhancing architecture that breaks this correlation at its root by decoupling the device identity from the subscriber identity.<n>We show that Di5Guise reduces user re-identification from 93% to 49% when combined with obfuscation.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-06-15T16:44:40Z)
• FIDEM: A Standard-Compliant Framework for Secure Binding of MUD Profiles to IoT Devices [90.91375734523943]
  FIDEM is a standard-compliant framework for securing DHCP-based MUD URL issuance.<n>It provides cryptographic binding between IoT devices and their MUD profiles by leveraging Zero-Knowledge-Proof authentication.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-05-28T09:16:50Z)
• Binding Agent ID: Unleashing the Power of AI Agents with accountability and credibility [46.323590135279126]
  BAID (Binding Agent ID) is a comprehensive identity infrastructure establishing verifiable user-code binding.<n>We implement and evaluate a complete prototype system, demonstrating the practical feasibility of blockchain-based identity management and zkVM-based authentication protocol.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-12-19T13:01:54Z)
• Cross-Service Token: Finding Attacks in 5G Core Networks [58.86003502940164]
  We present FivGeeFuzz, a grammar-based fuzzing framework designed to uncover security flaws in 5G core SBIs.<n>Using FivGeeFuzz, we discovered 8 previously unknown vulnerabilities in free5GC, leading to runtime crashes, improper error handling, and unauthorized access to resources.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-09-10T20:40:33Z)
• Privacy-preserving authentication for military 5G networks [0.0]
  5G networks gain traction in defense applications, ensuring the privacy and integrity of the Authentication and Key Agreement protocol is critical.<n>This paper provides a unified analysis of the standardized 5G AKA flow, identifying several vulnerabilities and highlighting how each exploits protocol behavior to compromise user privacy.<n>We present five lightweight mitigation strategies.<n>Among the solutions studied, those introducing a UE-generated nonce emerge as the most promising, effectively neutralizing the identified tracking and correlation attacks with negligible additional overhead.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-09-01T13:38:11Z)
• Active Attack Resilience in 5G: A New Take on Authentication and Key Agreement [13.49434164633215]
  5G-AKA protocol is central to authentication in current 5G deployments.<n>5G-AKA has known limitations in both security and performance.<n>This paper proposes an enhanced authentication protocol that builds on 5G-AKA's design while addressing its shortcomings.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-07-23T13:18:44Z)
• CANTXSec: A Deterministic Intrusion Detection and Prevention System for CAN Bus Monitoring ECU Activations [53.036288487863786]
  We propose CANTXSec, the first deterministic Intrusion Detection and Prevention system based on physical ECU activations.<n>It detects and prevents classical attacks in the CAN bus, while detecting advanced attacks that have been less investigated in the literature.<n>We prove the effectiveness of our solution on a physical testbed, where we achieve 100% detection accuracy in both classes of attacks while preventing 100% of FIAs.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-05-14T13:37:07Z)
• Securing 5G Bootstrapping: A Two-Layer IBS Authentication Protocol [4.087348638056961]
  Lack of authentication during the initial bootstrapping phase between cellular devices and base stations allows attackers to send malicious messages to the devices.<n>We propose E2IBS, a novel and efficient two-layer identity-based signature scheme for seamless integration with existing cellular protocols.<n>Compared to the state-of-the-art Schnorr-HIBS, E2IBS reduces attack surfaces, enables fine-grained lawful interception, and achieves 2x speed in verification.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-02-07T13:32:48Z)
• Towards Credential-based Device Registration in DApps for DePINs with ZKPs [46.08150780379237]
  We propose a credential-based device registration (CDR) mechanism that verifies device credentials on the blockchain. We present a general system model, and technically evaluate CDR using zkSNARKs with Groth16 and Marlin.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-06-27T09:50:10Z)
• Tamper-Evident Pairing [55.2480439325792]
  Tamper-Evident Pairing (TEP) is an improvement of the Push-Button configuration (PBC) standard. TEP relies on the Tamper-Evident Announcement (TEA), which guarantees that an adversary can neither tamper a transmitted message without being detected, nor hide the fact that the message has been sent. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the TEP protocol, including all information needed to understand how it works.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-11-24T18:54:00Z)
• P3LI5: Practical and Confidential Lawful Interception on the 5G Core [2.143473825979527]
  Lawful Interception (LI) is a legal obligation of Communication Service Providers (CSPs) to provide interception capabilities to Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) With the privacy-enhancements of network identifiers in the 5th generation of mobile networks (5G), LEAs need to interact with CSPs for network identifier resolution. We propose P3LI5, a novel system that enables LEAs to privately query CSPs for network identifier resolution.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-08-27T17:57:30Z)
• Locally Authenticated Privacy-preserving Voice Input [10.82818142802482]
  Service providers must authenticate their users, although individuals may wish to maintain privacy. Preserving privacy while performing authentication is challenging, particularly where adversaries can use biometric data to train transformation tools. We introduce a secure, flexible privacy-preserving system to capture and store an on-device fingerprint of the users' raw signals.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-05-27T14:56:01Z)
• Blockchain-based Privacy Preservation for 5G-enabled Drone Communications [47.852641639155664]
  5G-enabled drones have potential applications in a variety of both military and civilian settings. There are security and privacy considerations underpinning 5G-enabled drone communications. We will review existing blockchain-based solutions after introducing the architecture for 5G-enabled drone communications and blockchain.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-09-07T15:27:52Z)
• Mind the GAP: Security & Privacy Risks of Contact Tracing Apps [75.7995398006171]
  Google and Apple have jointly provided an API for exposure notification in order to implement decentralized contract tracing apps using Bluetooth Low Energy. We demonstrate that in real-world scenarios the GAP design is vulnerable to (i) profiling and possibly de-anonymizing persons, and (ii) relay-based wormhole attacks that basically can generate fake contacts.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-06-10T16:05:05Z)

This list is automatically generated from the titles and abstracts of the papers in this site.

This site does not guarantee the quality of this site (including all information) and is not responsible for any consequences.