Systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for data transmission with stateless routing are provided. Certain embodiments may include a radio resource control (RRC)—less or RRC-based mechanism for short data transmission (SDT) in an RRC inactive state, where the mechanism may be performed without storing or establishing a UE context in a distributed unit (DU), for a UE served by a single CU-user plane (UP). Certain embodiments may include a RRC-less mechanism for SDT in an RRC inactive state, where the authentication of the user equipment (UE) may be performed at the UP using UP integrity protection (IP) in a CU-UP. Certain embodiments may include a RRC-based mechanism for SDT in an RRC inactive state, where the authentication of the UE may be performed at the UP using UP IP in a CU-UP and/or at the CP using CP IP in a CU-CP.