diff --git a/src/utils/inetAddressUtil.cpp b/src/utils/inetAddressUtil.cpp
index 0e24fc0..768a0d6 100644
--- a/src/utils/inetAddressUtil.cpp
+++ b/src/utils/inetAddressUtil.cpp
@@ -146,8 +146,13 @@ InetAddrVector* getSocketAddressList(const std::string & list, int defaultPort,
         const InetAddrVector* appendList) {
     InetAddrVector* iav = new InetAddrVector();
 
-    // parse string
+    // skip leading spaces
+    size_t len = list.length();
     size_t subStart = 0;
+    while (subStart < len && isspace(list[subStart]))
+        subStart++;
+
+    // parse string
     size_t subEnd;
     while((subEnd = list.find(' ', subStart))!=std::string::npos) {
         string address = list.substr(subStart, (subEnd-subStart));
@@ -157,7 +162,7 @@ InetAddrVector* getSocketAddressList(const std::string & list, int defaultPort,
         subStart = list.find_first_not_of(" \t\r\n\v", subEnd);
     }
 
-    if(subStart!=std::string::npos&&list.length()>0) {
+    if(subStart!=std::string::npos && subStart<len) {
         osiSockAddr addr;
         if (aToIPAddr(list.substr(subStart).c_str(), defaultPort, &addr.ia) == 0)
             iav->push_back(addr);
diff --git a/testApp/utils/testInetAddressUtils.cpp b/testApp/utils/testInetAddressUtils.cpp
index 30a729c..1ffa24d 100644
--- a/testApp/utils/testInetAddressUtils.cpp
+++ b/testApp/utils/testInetAddressUtils.cpp
@@ -74,7 +74,38 @@ void test_getSocketAddressList()
     testOk1(htons(555) == addr.ia.sin_port);
     testOk1(htonl(0xC0A80304) == addr.ia.sin_addr.s_addr);
     testOk1("192.168.3.4:555" == inetAddressToString(addr));
-    
+
+
+    // empty
+    auto_ptr<InetAddrVector> vec2(getSocketAddressList("", 1111));
+    testOk1(static_cast<size_t>(0) == vec2->size());
+
+    // just spaces
+    auto_ptr<InetAddrVector> vec3(getSocketAddressList("   ", 1111));
+    testOk1(static_cast<size_t>(0) == vec3->size());
+
+    // leading spaces
+    auto_ptr<InetAddrVector> vec4(getSocketAddressList("     127.0.0.1   10.10.12.11:1234 192.168.3.4", 555));
+
+    testOk1(static_cast<size_t>(3) == vec4->size());
+
+    addr = vec4->at(0);
+    testOk1(AF_INET == addr.ia.sin_family);
+    testOk1(htons(555) == addr.ia.sin_port);
+    testOk1(htonl(0x7F000001) == addr.ia.sin_addr.s_addr);
+    testOk1("127.0.0.1:555" == inetAddressToString(addr));
+
+    addr = vec4->at(1);
+    testOk1(AF_INET == addr.ia.sin_family);
+    testOk1(htons(1234) == addr.ia.sin_port);
+    testOk1(htonl(0x0A0A0C0B) == addr.ia.sin_addr.s_addr);
+    testOk1("10.10.12.11:1234" == inetAddressToString(addr));
+
+    addr = vec4->at(2);
+    testOk1(AF_INET == addr.ia.sin_family);
+    testOk1(htons(555) == addr.ia.sin_port);
+    testOk1(htonl(0xC0A80304) == addr.ia.sin_addr.s_addr);
+    testOk1("192.168.3.4:555" == inetAddressToString(addr));
 }
 
 void test_ipv4AddressToInt()
@@ -329,7 +360,7 @@ void test_multicastLoopback()
 
 MAIN(testInetAddressUtils)
 {
-    testPlan(68);
+    testPlan(83);
     testDiag("Tests for InetAddress utils");
 
     test_getSocketAddressList();