Researchers have demonstrated that a cheap fake base station can still track subscribers on commercial 5G networks. The tool, called 5G-Shark, was developed by researchers from the i2CAT Foundation, the University of Murcia, and NEC Laboratories Europe. According to Help Net Security, it works by luring a target phone onto a rogue base station and then questioning the device.
The researchers used 5G-Shark to audit commercial standalone 5G networks. The findings suggest that even with 5G's improved security, a relatively inexpensive attacker can still track subscribers. The source report does not provide details on specific operators or possible mitigations, so the full scope of the vulnerability remains unclear.