ANAM AKRAM2025-09-292025-09-292022https://escholar.umt.edu.pk/handle/123456789/7343Software defined Network (SDN) has radically changed the network infrastructure by decoupling the data plane and control plane. This architectural shift rejuvenates the network layer by granting the re-programmability and centralized management of networks which brings up the exciting challenges. SDN enhances network security through global visibility of network state where conflicts can be easily resolved from a centralized control plane. Although SDN seems a secured network as compared to conventional networks, still, it is vulnerable and facing rigorous deployment challenges. Moreover, the bifurcation of data and control planes also opens up new security problems. We have formalized this problem space by identifying the potential attack scenarios and highlight the possible vulnerabilities. In this research, we conducted an extensive systematic literature review (SLR) with the goal to collect all SDN planes-related security challenges. We have identified 71 primary studies from different databases through a systematic review process and classify them accordingly. The underlying review has been conducted by reviewing the articles published between 2015 and 2020.The primary objective of this SLR is to analyse the security threats to the application plane, control plane, and data plane of SDN. Furthermore, this review also discusses the attack causes on each plane. Moreover, we also review the existing security solutions which are proposed by researchers to secure the SDN planes. Additionally, a collaborative security model has been proposed parallels to each SDN plane. Lastly, the research also highlights the research gaps and suggests promising future research direction for the deployment of secure SDN. Such an extensive systematic review will surely help the researchers to provide more reliable and robust security solutions in SDN networks.enThesis