Sidelink paired and unpaired states

1. A method of wireless communication at a first user equipment (UE), comprising:

establishing a unicast link with a second UE, establishing the unicast link comprising a security establishment procedure between the first UE and the second UE;

establishing a security context with the second UE during the security establishment procedure;

starting a timer based on a status of the unicast link;

reestablishing the unicast link with the second UE using the security context when the unicast link is reestablished prior to expiration of the timer;

stopping the timer upon re-establishing the unicast link prior to the expiration of the timer; and

restarting the timer from a current value that the timer was stopped upon releasing the unicast link.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein upon establishing the security context with the second UE, the first UE transitions from a sidelink unpaired state to a sidelink paired state with the second UE, wherein the first UE does not retain the security context for the second UE when the first UE is in the sidelink unpaired state, and wherein the first UE does retain the security context for the second UE in the sidelink paired state.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first UE does not perform the security establishment procedure upon reestablishing the unicast link with the second UE after performing a unicast link release of the unicast link if the first UE is in the sidelink paired state.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein reestablishing the unicast link while the first UE is in the sidelink paired state comprises transmitting a security token to the second UE for the second UE to verify the first UE.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the security context comprises one or more key and one or more security procedure, the method further comprising creating the security token based on the one or more key, the security procedure, an identifier of the first UE, and an identifier of the unicast link.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the security context includes a PC5-S security context.

7. An apparatus for wireless communication at a first user equipment (UE), comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:

establish a unicast link with a second UE, establishing the unicast link comprising a security establishment procedure between the first UE and the second UE;

establish a security context with the second UE during the security establishment procedure;

start a timer based on a status of the unicast link;

reestablish the unicast link with the second UE using the security context when the unicast link is reestablished prior to expiration of the timer;

stop the timer upon re-establishing the unicast link prior to the expiration of the timer; and

restarting the timer from a current value that the timer was stopped upon releasing the unicast link.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein upon establishing the security context with the second UE, the first UE transitions from a sidelink unpaired state to a sidelink paired state with the second UE, wherein the first UE does not retain the security context for the second UE when the first UE is in the sidelink unpaired state, and wherein the first UE does retain the security context for the second UE in the sidelink paired state.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the at least one processor is not configured to perform the security establishment procedure upon reestablishing the unicast link with the second UE after performing a unicast link release of the unicast link if the first UE is in the sidelink paired state.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the security context includes a PC5-S security context.