Handling of integrity check failure in a wireless communication system
Handling of integrity check failure in a wireless communication system can safely send the mobile station to the idle mode upon detection of security failure. Alternatively or in addition, attempts to recover from the security failure situation can be enabled without forcing the mobile station to enter idle mode. The mobile station autonomously transitions to idle mode when the integrity check failure is detected a certain threshold number ‘X’ times during a specified period ‘Y’. Whereupon, the mobile station initiates the Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection re-establishment procedure after integrity check failure is detected. In the RRC connection re-establishment procedure, the security parameters are re-initialized to provide a possibility to recover from the failure situation.
1. A method for handling protocol errors in a wireless communications system comprising:
employing a processor executing computer executable instructions stored on a computer readable storage medium to implement the following acts:
establishing a first signaling radio bearer and triggering an integrity protection procedure of the first signaling radio bearer;
receiving messages, from a node, on the first signaling radio bearer, wherein the received messages include a first message;
transmitting an integrity protection check failure message to the node in response to an integrity protection check failure, for the first message, detected by the integrity protection procedure; and
transitioning to an idle mode in response to a count of integrity protection check failures for the received messages on the first signaling radio bearer meeting a threshold value of at least two.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the count of integrity protection check failures meeting the threshold value comprises the count of integrity protection check failures meeting the threshold value during a time period.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the count of integrity protection check failures meeting the threshold value comprises a count of consecutive integrity protection check failures meeting the threshold value.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a connection release message in response to the transmitted integrity protection check failure message.
5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising treating each of a plurality of received connection release messages as an integrity protection check failure in the count of integrity protection check failures.
6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the connection release message is received on a second signaling radio bearer that is not subject to the integrity protection procedure.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising establishing the first radio signal bearer on a downlink from a base node, comprising the node, to a user equipment.
8. An apparatus for handling protocol errors in a wireless communications system comprising:
at least one processor;
at least one computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions that when executed by the at least one processor implement components comprising:
means for establishing a first signaling radio bearer and triggering an integrity protection procedure of the first signaling radio bearer;
means for receiving messages, from a node, on the first signaling radio bearer, wherein the received messages include a first message;
means for transmitting an integrity protection failure message to the node in response to an integrity protection check failure, for the first message, detected by the integrity protection procedure; and
means for transitioning to an idle mode in response to a count of integrity protection check failures for the received messages on the first signaling radio bearer meeting a threshold value of at least two.
9. An apparatus for handling protocol errors in a wireless communications system comprising:
a processor operatively coupled to a computer readable medium having stored thereon the following computer executable components:
a computing platform for establishing a first signaling radio bearer and triggering an integrity protection procedure of the first signaling radio bearer;
a receiver for receiving messages, from a node, on the first signaling radio bearer, wherein the received messages include a first message;
a transmitter for transmitting an integrity protection failure message to the node in response to an integrity protection check failure, for the first message, detected by the integrity protection procedure; and
the computing platform further for transitioning to an idle mode in response to a count of integrity protection check failures for the received messages on the first signaling radio bearer meeting a threshold value of at least two.
10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the count of integrity protection check failures meeting the threshold value comprises the count of integrity protection check failures meeting the threshold value during a time period.
11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the count of integrity protection check failures meeting the threshold value comprises a count of consecutive integrity protection check failures meeting the threshold value.
12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the receiver is further for receiving a connection release message in response to the transmitted integrity protection check failure message.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the computing platform treats each of a plurality of received connection release messages as an integrity protection check failure in the count of integrity protection check failures.
14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the receiver is further for receiving the connection release message on a second signaling radio bearer not subject to the integrity protection procedure.
15. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the computing platform is further for establishing the first radio signal bearer on a downlink from a base node, comprising the node, to a user equipment.
16. A computer program product for handling protocol errors in a wireless communications system comprising:
at least one computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions that when executed by at least one processor implement components comprising:
a set of instructions for causing a computer to establish a first signaling radio bearer and triggering an integrity protection procedure of the first signaling radio bearer;
a set of instructions for causing the computer to receive messages, from a node, on the first signaling radio bearer, wherein the received messages include a first message;
a set of instructions for causing the computer to transmit an integrity protection check failure message to the node in response to an integrity protection check failure, for the first message, detected by the integrity protection procedure; and
a set of instructions for causing the computer to transition to an idle mode in response to a count of integrity protection check failures for the received messages on the first signaling radio bearer meeting a threshold value of at least two.