C210 Tapo camera

IP Cameras are a nightmare for our privacy. For this reason I am reverse engineering a Tp-Link Tapo C210's firmware and its relative app in order to prevent them from sending any data to untrusted servers. There are better resources than mine: see https://github.com/nervous-inhuman/tplink-tapo-c200-re and https://drmnsamoliu.github.io/. Be careful use those resources mindfully, as they are about Tapo C200, whereas this repository focuses on the C210. Despite being esthetically equivalent and having a similar name, their hardware is completely different. The C200 is based on a MIPS microprocessor, whereas the C210 is based on the ARM-based MStar SSC335 chipset.

In particular, I will focus on

• the reverse engineering of the app in order to be able to use the camera without a Tp-Link account;
• the reverse engineering of the firmware to strip off the portions of code sending the video stream to their servers (I do not have the .bin firmware yet. It should be located at download.tplinkcloud.com/firmware/Tapo_C210v2.6_us_1.3.4_Build_230222 but it needs a key. If someone tcpdumps the connection from the camera should be able to obtain the link).

How these cameras were designed to work

1. You download a proprietary app (Tp-Link Tapo) and create an account without which the camera can not work;
2. You use said app to instruct the camera to use a specified Wi-Fi AP;
3. The camera sends the video stream not end-to-end encrypted to servers we have no control over;
4. You have the possibility to update the camera's firmware through its app. This expands the attack surface for a hacker or from the company itself to push a malicious update.

What we can do

As of today, we have:

• Libre NVR solutions (iSpy, ZoneMinder, ...);
• A collection of open source software to control these cameras through undocumented APIs, see my collection.

Nonethless, you still need the proprietary app and a Tp-Link account the first time you boot the camera up and NVRs will not stop the camera from sending the video stream to their servers without using a firewall.

This repository aims to resolve these issues.