Techniques for supporting user plane integrity protection in wireless communications

An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

• a transceiver;
• a memory configured to store instructions;
• and
• one or more processors communicatively coupled with the memory and the transceiver, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the instructions to cause the apparatus to:
• receive, by a target base station, an indication to handover a user equipment (UE) from a source base station to the target base station;
• indicate, to the source base station, that the target base station supports user plane (UP) integrity protection (IP);
• and
• receive handover of the UE from the source base station.

A method for wireless communication, comprising:

• initiating, by a source base station, handover of a user equipment (UE) from the source base station to a target base station, wherein the source base station supports user plane (UP) integrity protection (IP) for the UE;
• where the target base station supports the UP IP, transmitting, to the UE, a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message to cause the UE to handover communications to the target base station;
• and
• where the target base station does not support the UP IP, refraining from transmitting, to the UE, the RRC reconfiguration message to cause the UE to handover communications to the target base station.

A method for wireless communication, comprising:

• receiving, by a target base station, an indication to handover a user equipment (UE) from a source base station to the target base station;
• indicating, to the source base station, that the target base station supports user plane (UP) integrity protection (IP);
• and
• receiving handover of the UE from the source base station.