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ZT-RIC:A Zero Trust RIC Framework for ensuring data Privacy and Confidentiality in Open RAN

Diana Lin, Samarth Bhargav, Azuka Chiejina, Mohamed I. Ibrahem, Vijay K. Shah

TL;DR

A zero-trust RIC (ZT-RIC) framework that preserves data privacy across the RIC platform, including the RIC database, xApps, and E2 interface is proposed and testing shows that ZT-RIC preserves data confidentiality while achieving 97.9% accuracy in jamming detection and meeting sub-second latency requirements.

Abstract

The advancement of 5G and NextG networks through Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) architecture enables a shift toward virtualized, modular, and disaggregated configurations. A core component of O-RAN is the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC), which manages RAN using machine learning-driven xApps that access sensitive data from RAN and User Equipment (UE), stored in the near Real-Time RIC (Near-RT RIC) database. This shared, open environment increases the risk of unauthorized data exposure. To address these concerns, this paper proposes a zero-trust RIC (ZT-RIC) framework that preserves data privacy across the RIC platform, including the RIC database, xApps, and E2 interface. ZT-RIC employs Inner Product Functional Encryption (IPFE) to encrypt RAN/UE data at the base station, preventing leaks through the E2 interface and shared database. Additionally, ZT-RIC enables xApps to perform inference on encrypted data without exposing sensitive information. For evaluation, a state-of-the-art InterClass xApp, which detects jamming signals using RAN key performance metrics (KPMs), is implemented. Testing on an LTE/5G O-RAN testbed shows that ZT-RIC preserves data confidentiality while achieving 97.9% accuracy in jamming detection and meeting sub-second latency requirements, with a round-trip time (RTT) of 0.527 seconds.

ZT-RIC:A Zero Trust RIC Framework for ensuring data Privacy and Confidentiality in Open RAN

TL;DR

A zero-trust RIC (ZT-RIC) framework that preserves data privacy across the RIC platform, including the RIC database, xApps, and E2 interface is proposed and testing shows that ZT-RIC preserves data confidentiality while achieving 97.9% accuracy in jamming detection and meeting sub-second latency requirements.

Abstract

The advancement of 5G and NextG networks through Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) architecture enables a shift toward virtualized, modular, and disaggregated configurations. A core component of O-RAN is the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC), which manages RAN using machine learning-driven xApps that access sensitive data from RAN and User Equipment (UE), stored in the near Real-Time RIC (Near-RT RIC) database. This shared, open environment increases the risk of unauthorized data exposure. To address these concerns, this paper proposes a zero-trust RIC (ZT-RIC) framework that preserves data privacy across the RIC platform, including the RIC database, xApps, and E2 interface. ZT-RIC employs Inner Product Functional Encryption (IPFE) to encrypt RAN/UE data at the base station, preventing leaks through the E2 interface and shared database. Additionally, ZT-RIC enables xApps to perform inference on encrypted data without exposing sensitive information. For evaluation, a state-of-the-art InterClass xApp, which detects jamming signals using RAN key performance metrics (KPMs), is implemented. Testing on an LTE/5G O-RAN testbed shows that ZT-RIC preserves data confidentiality while achieving 97.9% accuracy in jamming detection and meeting sub-second latency requirements, with a round-trip time (RTT) of 0.527 seconds.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 19 sections, 9 equations, 5 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. O-RAN Background, Threat Model, and Design Objectives
  3. O-RAN Background
  4. RIC Threat Model against Data Privacy
  5. Design Objectives
  6. ML-based InterClass xApp
  7. Privacy-preserving ZT-RIC Framework
  8. A primer on IPFE and motivation behind its incorporation within ZT-RIC
  9. ZT-RIC Details
  10. Standard O-RAN Testbed and ZT-RIC Prototype
  11. Standard O-RAN Testbed
  12. ZT-RIC Prototype
  13. Performance Evaluation
  14. xApp's ML Model Performance:
  15. Network Performance Evaluation
  16. ...and 4 more sections

Figures (5)

  • Figure 1: O-RAN Architecture showing internal and external adversaries.
  • Figure 2: Overview of ZT-RIC Framework.
  • Figure 3: Illustration of encrypted and non-encrypted parts of the (ML-based) InterClass xApp within ZT-RIC framework.
  • Figure 4: O-RAN testbed. The left image shows our base station, user equipment, and the jammer USRPs. The right image shows the server hosting the near-RT RIC
  • Figure 5: CDF plot showing BLER performance