Methods, systems, and computer readable media for protecting against mass network function (NF) deregistration attacks

A system for protecting against mass network function (NF) deregistration attacks, the system comprising:

• an NF repository function (NRF) or a service communication proxy (SCP) including at least one processor and a memory;
• a mass NF deregistration attack mitigation module implemented by the at least one processor for receiving an NFDeregister request for deregistering an NF, classifying the NFDeregister request as suspect based on application of suspect NFDeregister request classification rules, in response to classifying the NFDeregister request as suspect, queueing the NFDeregister request, receiving an NF heart-beat message concerning the NF, determining that the NF heart-beat message is received within an NF heart-beat time interval for the NF, and, in response to determining that the NF heart-beat message is received within the NF heart-beat time interval for the NF, preventing processing of the NF Deregister request and blacklisting a sender of the NFDeregister request.