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The Public Warning System (PWS) is an essential part of cellular networks and a country’s civil protection. Warnings can notify users of hazardous events (e. g., floods, earthquakes) and crucial national matters that require immediate attention. PWS attacks disseminating fake warnings or concealing precarious events can have a serious impact, causing fraud, panic, physical harm, or unrest to users within an affected area. In this work, we conduct the first comprehensive investigation of PWS security in 5G networks. We demonstrate five practical attacks that may impact the security of 5G-based Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) as well as Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System (ETWS) alerts. Additional to identifying the vulnerabilities, we investigate two PWS spoofing and three PWS suppression attacks, with or without a man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacker. We discover that MitM-based attacks have more …