Detection of Pilot Spoofing Attack in Massive MIMO Systems Based on Channel Estimation

•The channel estimate at BS varies in the absence or presence of eavesdropping.•Relying on the likelihood ratio test (LRT) principle, three decision metrics are constructed using the channel estimate.•Deploying more antennas is effective in improving the probability of detection.•An eavesdropper needs to tune its transmit power to balance between eavesdropping and hidden abilities.