A.6 Protection of RRC messages (informative)

36.3313GPPEvolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA)Protocol specificationRadio Resource Control (RRC)Release 17TS

The following list provides information which messages can be sent (unprotected) prior to security activation and which messages can be sent unprotected after security activation. Those messages indicated "-" in "P" column should never be sent unprotected by eNB or UE. Further requirements are defined in the procedural text.

P…Messages that can be sent (unprotected) prior to security activation

A – I…Messages that can be sent without integrity protection after security activation

A – C…Messages that can be sent unciphered after security activation

NA… Message can never be sent after security activation

Message

P

A-I

A-C

Comment

CSFBParametersRequestCDMA2000

+

CSFBParametersResponseCDMA2000

+

CounterCheck

CounterCheckResponse

DLDedicatedMessageSegment

NOTE 1

DLInformationTransfer

+

FailureInformation

HandoverFromEUTRAPreparationRequest (CDMA2000)

InDeviceCoexIndication

InterFreqRSTDMeasurementIndication

LoggedMeasurementsConfiguration

MasterInformationBlock

+

+

+

MasterInformationBlock-MBMS

+

+

+

MBMSCountingRequest

+

+

+

MBMSCountingResponse

MBMSInterestIndication

+

MBSFNAreaConfiguration

+

+

+

MeasReportAppLayer

MeasurementReport

Measurement configuration may be sent prior to security activation. But: In order to protect privacy of UEs, MEASUREMENT REPORT is only sent from the UE after successful security activation.

MCGFailureInformation

MobilityFromEUTRACommand

Paging

+

+

+

ProximityIndication

PURConfigurationRequest

+

Except if the UE is using Control plane CIoT EPS/5GS optimisation, the message is only sent from the UE after successful security activation.

RNReconfiguration

RNReconfigurationComplete

RRCConnectionReconfiguration

+

The message shall not be sent unprotected before security activation if it is used to perform handover or to establish SRB2, SRB4 and DRBs

RRCConnectionReconfigurationComplete

+

Unprotected, if sent as response to RRCConnectionReconfiguration which was sent before security activation

RRCConnectionReestablishment

+

+

This message is not protected by PDCP operation.

RRCConnectionReestablishmentComplete

RRCConnectionReestablishmentReject

+

+

One reason to send this may be that the security context has been lost, therefore sent as unprotected.

RRCConnectionReestablishmentRequest

+

This message is not protected by PDCP operation. However, a short MAC-I is included.

RRCConnectionReject

+

+

+

Except for resumption of an RRC connection after early security reactivation in accordance with conditions in 5.3.3.18, A-I and A-C are NA.

RRCConnectionRelease

+

Justification for P: If the RRC connection only for signalling not requiring DRBs or ciphered messages, or the signalling connection has to be released prematurely, this message is sent as unprotected.

For resumption of an RRC connection after early security reactivation in accordance with conditions in 5.3.3.18, the message is only sent after successful security activation.

RRCConnectionRelease message sent before security activation cannot include rrc-InactiveConfig, redirectedCarrierInfo, idleModeMobilityControlInfo information fields when UE is connected to 5GC.

RRCConnectionRequest

+

NA

NA

RRCConnectionResume

+

When this message is transmitted, security is activated but suspended. Integrity verification is done after the message received by RRC.

For resumption of an RRC connection after early security reactivation in accordance with conditions in 5.3.3.18, the message is only sent after successful security activation.

For RRC_INACTIVE state or after early security reactivation, the message is protected with both integrity and ciphering.

RRCConnectionResumeRequest

+

This message is not protected by PDCP operation. However, a short MAC-I is included.

RRCConnectionResumeComplete

RRCConnectionSetup

+

NA

NA

RRCConnectionSetupComplete

+

NA

NA

RRCEarlyDataRequest

+

NA

NA

RRCEarlyDataComplete

+

NA

NA

SCGFailureInformation

SCGFailureInformationNR

SCPTMConfiguration

+

+

+

SecurityModeCommand

+

NA

NA

Integrity protection applied, but no ciphering (integrity verification done after the message received by RRC)

SecurityModeComplete

NA

NA

Integrity protection applied, but no ciphering. Ciphering is applied after completing the procedure.

SecurityModeFailure

+

NA

NA

Neither integrity protection nor ciphering applied.

SidelinkUEInformation

+

SystemInformation

+

+

+

SystemInformationBlockType1

+

+

+

SystemInformationBlockType1-MBMS

+

+

+

UEAssistanceInformation

UECapabilityEnquiry

+

Except if the UE is using Control plane CIoT EPS optimisation, E-UTRAN should retrieve UE capabilities only after AS security activation.

UECapabilityInformation

+

UEInformationRequest

UEInformationResponse

In order to protect privacy of UEs, UEInformationResponse is only sent from the UE after successful security activation

ULDedicatedMessageSegment

+

ULHandoverPreparationTransfer (CDMA2000)

This message should follow HandoverFromEUTRAPreparationRequest

ULInformationTransfer

+

ULInformationTransferIRAT

NOTE 2

ULInformationTransferMRDC

WLANConnectionStatusReport

NOTE 1: This message type carries segments of other RRC messages. The protection of an instance of this message is the same as for the message which this message is carrying.

NOTE 2: This message type carries other RRC messages. The protection of an instance of this message is the same as for the message which this message is carrying.