Researchers have discovered a collection of flaws in the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) standard, which could allow an attacker to send spoof messages and intercept data traffic.

A team with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology Constitution (KAIST) have discovered 51 vulnerabilities with the 4G standard, including 15 known issues and 36 previously undiscovered flaws.

They discovered this set of flaws using a code-testing technique known as 'fuzzing'. The KAIST researchers used a tool dubbed 'LTEFuzz' to feed large amounts of random data into identified processes to test them for potential anomalies.

The vulnerabilities unearthed span a broad spectrum, varying in nature and severity. They range from a flaw that could allow an attacker to disconnect a victim from their mobile network, to one that permits the eavesdropping and manipulation of data communications.

Tests were conducted across several devices on two high-profile mobile network operators. The KAIST team was intrigued by the fact that on the same operator, two core networking components from different vendors could present different vulnerabilities. The same was also true for two components from a single vendor, but deployed across different operators.

The full list of vulnerabilities discovered can be found at the foot of the team's 16-page report, which they are planning to present publicly at the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy in May.