Sipera VIPER Lab discloses nine threat advisories for WiFi/dual mode telephones from vendors including RIM, HTC, Samsung, Dell and D-Link. These threat advisories are in addition to the new SIP vulnerabilities published by Sipera VIPER Lab.

Sipera proactively identifies VoIP threats through its Sipera VIPER Lab, which is comprised of experienced VoIP application developers, architects, and engineers, operating 24/7/365 from Richardson, Texas, and Hyderabad, India. Every day, the dedicated VIPER Lab researchers identify new vulnerabilities and potential exploits in VoIP protocols, VoIP equipment and phones. They also scan web sites, blogs, discussion groups, and media outlets for evidence of known, suspected and new VoIP vulnerabilities and attacks.

These vulnerabilities are posted at http://www.sipera.com/viper as a service to Sipera's customers and the general public. Sipera VIPER Lab follows a disclosure policy which notifies equipment vendors, in advance, of the potential vulnerabilities and works with each of these vendors to publish a response/fix or identify other solutions to these security issues.

"VoIP security is just beginning to get more attention now that VoIP adoption has reached a tipping point in the last year. It is refreshing to see Sipera's launch of VIPER Lab that will assuredly help promote and advance the state of VoIP security research and help raise the overall awareness of VoIP threats and corresponding best practices," said David Endler, chairman of the Voice over IP Security Alliance (VOIPSA), an industry consortium created to drive adoption of VoIP by promoting the current state of VoIP security research, VoIP security education and awareness, and free VoIP testing methodologies and tools.

Dual-mode phones are used to automatically switch between WiFi and cellular networks, thus providing lower costs, improved connectivity and a rich set of converged services utilizing protocols including SIP. However, these protocols also expose enterprise and service provider networks to new VoIP security issues. Left unchecked, these can be exploited by hackers, malicious users and spammers.

The major threat advisories issued today that affect WiFi/dual-mode phones include:

• A format string vulnerability in RIM Blackberry 7270 SIP stack may allow a remote attacker to disable the phone's calling features (VIPER- 2007-023).
• HTC HyTN using AGEPhone is vulnerable to malformed SIP messages sent over WLAN connections, which may cause active calls to disconnect (VIPER-2007-0026).
• A buffer overflow vulnerability in Samsung SCH-i730 phones running SJPhone SIP Client may allow an attacker to disable the phone and slow down the operating system (VIPER-2007-0029).
• Dell Axim running SJPhone SIP soft phone is vulnerable to denial of service attacks, which can freeze the phone and drain the battery (VIPER-2007-0030).
• A vulnerability in the SDP parsing module of D-Link DPH-540/DPH-541 WiFi phones may allow remote attackers to disable the phone's calling features (VIPER-2007-031).

For additional details on these vulnerabilities or to see the complete list, visit http://www.sipera.com/viper.