BlackBerry 7270 smartphone does not handle SIP INVITE messages properly

Doc ID : KB12705
Last Modified : 2007-07-06
Document Type : Security Advisory


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Environment

Advisory Posted: 27 March 2007

  • BlackBerry® 7270 smartphone
  • BlackBerry® Device Software 4.0 Service Pack 1 Bundle 83 and earlier
  • SDR125236


Overview

Vulnerabilities exist in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) implemented on a BlackBerry 7270 smartphone running BlackBerry Device Software 4.0 Service Pack 1 Bundle 83 and earlier. If these vulnerabilities are exploited by a person with malicious intent, a denial of service may occur in the Phone application, but this will not affect the other capabilities of the BlackBerry 7270 smartphone. This does not affect any other BlackBerry device.

Note: Exploiting these vulnerabilities requires access to a private branch exchange (PBX) from within an enterprise network.



Impact

A denial of service may occur in the Phone application of the BlackBerry 7270 smartphone.



Problem

A BlackBerry 7270 smartphone receives a malicious SIP INVITE message. When the BlackBerry smartphone user ends a received call, the Phone application does not disconnect the call successfully and stops responding for approximately 30 to 40 seconds, until the BlackBerry 7270 smartphone clears the INVITE transaction state properly. The following problems occur on the BlackBerry smartphone:

  • The BlackBerry smartphone continues to transmit responses to the SIP INVITE message.
  • When the BlackBerry smartphone user tries to initiate the call, the following error message is displayed:

    Cannot connect. Call in progress

  • The BlackBerry smartphone does not receive incoming calls. The caller receives a busy signal.


Cause

A person with malicious intent sends a SIP server INVITE transaction to a BlackBerry 7270 smartphone. The BlackBerry smartphone user answers the received call but does not receive an ACK from the caller. This vulnerability in the BlackBerry 7270 smartphone SIP implementation may prevent the BlackBerry smartphone from clearing the INVITE transaction state properly.



Resolution

Upgrade to BlackBerry Device Software 4.0 Service Pack 1 Bundle 108 or later.



Workaround

Wait 30 to 40 seconds for the BlackBerry 7270 smartphone to return to normal operation.



Additional Information

Discovery attribution: This vulnerability was discovered by Sipera VIPER Lab, which assisted Research In Motion (RIM) in identifying the cause of the issue.

Reference: This issue is being tracked by US-CERT as VU#324841.

CVSS score: This vulnerability has a Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) score of 2.3 (Moderate).

CVSS is a vendor agnostic, industry open standard designed to convey the severity of vulnerabilities. CVSS scores may be used to determine the urgency for update deployment within an organization. CVSS scores range from 0.0 (no vulnerability) to 10.0 (critical). RIM uses CVSS for vulnerability assessments to present an immutable characterization of security issues. RIM assigns all relevant security issues a non-zero score.

For more information on SIP vulnerabilities, see KB12700 and KB12707.


Products & Services:

  • BlackBerry 7200 Series
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