A Methodology of Fake Cell Test Based on the RRC Redirection or Reselection Priorities from the 5G Network.

The fake cell test shall be an important method to research the network information or privacy safety in many scenarios. This article will discuss the possibility of a proposal that how to conduct a fake cell test based on the 5G NR radio control layer message. By using the redirection (cell reselection priority) method, the UE (user equipment) shall be redirected to a specified cell which is described by the ARFCN [1] (absolute radio frequency channel number) and Cell ID. The radio resources control (RRC) layer, which is responsible for the cell camp, selection and reselection operations [2]. Also, the RRC message can be easily decoded by some open-source software, which means that the intruder can obtain the details of the target cell and construct a fake one. The intruder shall be able to catch the user’s data and extract the privacy information. Especially with the development of automobile networks, mobile communication has been widely used on V2X, and the hacking of vehicles is considered more destructive than using mobile phones. The paper introduces a test method of the fake cell and successfully builds the fake cell to test, which also illustrates the limitation of this kind of fake cell test.