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The evolution of mobile networks toward ubiquitous connectivity envisioned by International Mobile Telecommunications-2030 has caused a surge in control plane traffic. A deep understanding of the control plane’s internal characteristics and mechanisms is crucial for delivering optimal services. However, existing measurements often neglect the control plane or treat it as an opaque box, focusing on overall performance instead of its intrinsic characteristics. In this paper, we introduce a 3GPP-compliant control plane evaluation framework and conduct the first in-depth analysis of the characteristics and overheads exhibited by various network functions (NFs) under large-scale connectivity conditions, based on empirical measurements. We selected three core network systems and conducted performance measurements on 500,000 User Equipment during UE registration and PDU session establishment procedures. We reveal the substantial resource demands and limited scalability of the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) and the Network Repository Function (NRF). Furthermore, our analysis identifies a significant need for an enhanced state management mechanism. The insights derived from our measurements underscore the immense potential for optimization within the core network. Key optimization pathways include enhancing protocol stack processing, mitigating potential leverage-based attacks, and implementing an integrated state management framework.