Tubail D.A.Canbilen A.E.Ikki S.2026-03-102026-03-10202597983503632342166-9570https://doi.org/10.1109/PIMRC62392.2025.11275473https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13091/13074Aselan; Ericsson; et al.; Huawei; Turk Telecom; TurkcellThis paper investigates the threat of passive eavesdropping on downlink cell-free massive MIMO (CF-MaMIMO) systems, examining a particular system under the effects of both hardware impairments (HWIs) and pilot contamination. Physical layer security (PLS) techniques and power allocation algorithms are typically adopted to deteriorate the quality of eavesdropped signals. In the downlink stream, artificial noise (AN) is broadcasted simultaneously with the users' data streams, with the aim of jamming the eavesdropper's signal without sacrificing the quality of service (QoS). The obtained results prove that mitigating the impact of both pilot contamination and HWIs on both the system's capacity and PLS is crucial for the deployment of practical CF-MaMIMO systems. © 2025 IEEE.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessArtificial NoiseCell-FreeEavesdropperHardware ImpairmentsMassive MIMOPhysical Layer SecurityConference Object10.1109/PIMRC62392.2025.112754732-s2.0-105030545119