Embodiments of this application disclose an air interface information security protection method and apparatus, to protect security performance of air interface information sent by a terminal to a base station. In an embodiment, a terminal determines a first message authentication code (MAC) value based on a security key and air interface information, where the security key is a non-access stratum (NAS) security key between the terminal and a core network device; and the terminal sends the air interface information and the first MAC value to a base station.