GTP comprises control plane (GTP-C), user plane (GTP-U) and charging (GTP' derived from GTP-C) traffic transferred on UDP/IP. GTP Security on supported Palo Alto Networks firewalls supports 3GPP Technical Standards for GTPv1-C, GTPv2-C and GTP-U.

View the PAN-OS releases by firewall model that support GTP Security. Enabling GTP Security on Palo Alto Networks firewalls allows you to protect the mobile core network infrastructure from malformed GTP packets, denial of service attacks, out of state GTP messages, and also protect mobile subscribers from spoofed IP packets and overbilling attacks.

GTPv1-C is defined in 3GPP TS 29.060. It is used on Gn interface, i.e. the interface between GPRS support nodes (GSNs) within a public land mobile network (PLMN), and also across Gp interface between GSNs in different PLMNs. It is also used for roaming and inter access mobility between Gn/Gp SGSNs and mobility management entity (MMEs). GTPv1-C carries various type of control plane signaling messages. The registered port number for GTPv1-C is 2123.

GTPv2-C is defined in 3GPP TS 29.274. It is used on various EPC (Evolved Packet Core) signaling interfaces like S5, S8, S11, S3 etc. GTPv2-C carries various type of control plane signaling messages. The registered port number for GTPv2-C is 2123.

GTP-U is defined in 3GPP TS 29.281. It encapsulates and route user plane traffic across multiple signaling interfaces like S1, S5, S8, S3 etc. GTP-U messages are either user plane or signaling messages. The registered port number for GTP-U is 2152.

NAT is not supported for GTP tunnel IP addresses with GTP stateful inspection.