THC Nokia Phone-Lock Reset

The Hacker's Choice has released a tool, thc-nokia-unlock, that exploits a design flaw in nokia mobile phones to remove the phone-lock.

The Phone Lock feature is designed to disable the key pad, bluetooth and the USB port. This makes it impossible to access the data stored on the device without knowing the correct code.

This unlock tool make use of some undocumented features of the Symbian OS which is used in most of the Nokia phones. One such feature is a 'recognizer' that can be used to execute a program when the phone boots. A recognizer is loaded and executed when a drive is mounted.

The problem with Phone Lock feature is that it does not disable the Memory Card (MMC). You can remove the Memory Card from a locked phone and install the 'thc-nokia-unlock' tool which infact is a recognizer that performs a hard reset (by software) on the phone.

The Memory Card is mounted when it is placed again into the mobile phone even when the phone is locked, thus executing the tool.

The same recognizer-autostart method can be used to quickly install a backdoor on a locked mobile phone or to propagate a virus.

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