The National Center for Communication Security (NCCS) of India has notified about the Mandatory Security Certification (MSC) of the Session Management Function (SMF) network function of the 5G Core, effective from January 1, 2025.

The SMF (Session Management Function) is primarily responsible for the termination of NAS signaling related to session management, PDU session control, policy enforcement, charging and LI support, IP address management, and UPF selection. It includes functions such as:

• UE IP address allocation & management (including optional authorization)
• DHCPv4 (server and client) and DHCPv6 (server and client) functions
• Selection and control of the UP function, including controlling the UPF to proxy ARP or IPv6 Neighbor Discovery
• Configuring traffic steering at the UPF to route traffic to the proper destination
• 5G VN group management
• Termination of interfaces towards policy control functions
• Support for charging
• Control and coordination of charging data collection at the UPF
• Termination of SM parts of NAS messages
• Downlink Data Notification
• Initiation of AN-specific SM information, sent via AMF over N2 to AN
• Acting as I-SMF in deployments where I-SMF can be inserted, removed, relocated, etc.

Please note, the certification procedure is voluntary until December 31, 2024. Therefore, companies can already apply for the security certification of SMF for 5G in advance to obtain a certificate beforehand.

The full text of the notification you can find here.

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The information has been prepared by the GMA Consult Group team.

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