CVE-2024-41710 identifies a vulnerability in the Mitel 6800, 6900, and 6900w Series SIP Phones, including the 6970 Conference Unit, firmware versions up to R6.4.0.HF1 (R6.4.0.136). The root cause is insufficient sanitization of parameters during the device boot process, which allows an authenticated attacker with administrative privileges to conduct an argument injection attack. This attack vector enables the injection of malicious commands that the system executes within its own context, effectively allowing arbitrary command execution. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-88 (Argument Injection or Modification). Exploitation requires administrative access to the device but does not require user interaction, making it a direct threat once credentials are compromised or administrative access is gained. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 6.8, reflecting medium severity with high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability due to the ability to execute arbitrary commands. No public exploits or patches have been reported at the time of publication, indicating that organizations must rely on access control and monitoring as immediate mitigations. The vulnerability affects telephony infrastructure critical for unified communications, potentially disrupting voice services and exposing sensitive communications or enabling lateral movement within networks.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses significant risks to telephony and unified communication systems that rely on Mitel SIP phones. Exploitation could lead to unauthorized command execution, enabling attackers to disrupt voice communications, intercept or manipulate calls, and potentially pivot to other network segments. This could impact confidentiality by exposing sensitive call data, integrity by altering system configurations or call routing, and availability by causing device or service outages. Sectors such as finance, government, healthcare, and critical infrastructure, which depend heavily on secure and reliable VoIP communications, are particularly vulnerable. The requirement for administrative privileges limits the attack surface but also highlights the criticality of protecting administrative credentials. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the threat, especially from insider threats or targeted attacks. Operational disruptions could lead to financial losses, reputational damage, and regulatory compliance issues under GDPR and other data protection laws.

1. Enforce strict administrative access controls: Use strong, unique passwords and multi-factor authentication for device management interfaces to prevent unauthorized access. 2. Network segmentation: Isolate VoIP devices on dedicated VLANs with restricted access to minimize lateral movement if compromised. 3. Monitor and audit administrative activities on Mitel devices to detect suspicious command executions or configuration changes. 4. Apply firmware updates promptly once Mitel releases patches addressing this vulnerability. 5. Disable unnecessary services and interfaces on the affected devices to reduce the attack surface. 6. Implement intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) tuned to detect anomalous SIP or device management traffic. 7. Conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing focused on VoIP infrastructure. 8. Educate administrators on the risks of argument injection and the importance of parameter validation in device management.