CVE-2026-79390 in TI8161
Summary
by MITRE • 09/04/2026
Trueview TI8161 6.0.23.4 is vulnerable to information disclosure due to the transmission of MQTT communications in plaintext over TCP port 1883. An unauthenticated attacker with access to the same network segment can intercept MQTT traffic and obtain sensitive device information and operational data, including device identifiers, message metadata, and control-related information.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/04/2026
The Trueview TI8161 running firmware version 6.0.23.4 contains a significant security flaw related to the lack of encryption for its MQTT communication protocol. This vulnerability stems from the system's configuration or default behavior which transmits data over TCP port 1883 without implementing Transport Layer Security (TLS) or Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). In modern IoT and industrial control environments, it is a standard security best practice to enforce encrypted channels for all remote management and telemetry traffic. By relying on plaintext transmission, the device fails to provide confidentiality or integrity protections for the data in transit, leaving it exposed to passive network monitoring attacks.
An unauthenticated attacker who has gained access to the same local area network segment can exploit this weakness by performing packet sniffing using standard network analysis tools such as Wireshark or tcpdump. Since MQTT operates on a publish-subscribe model over TCP, any device connected to the same broadcast domain can capture all packets destined for or originating from the TI8161 unit. The attacker does not need valid credentials or authentication tokens to intercept this traffic because the encryption layer is entirely absent at the transport level. This allows for easy interception of sensitive operational data that should remain confidential within the organization's network perimeter.
The impact of this information disclosure is substantial, as MQTT payloads in industrial and surveillance contexts often contain highly sensitive metadata. Interception reveals device identifiers which can be used to map the physical location and role of specific assets within a facility. Furthermore, message metadata and control-related information provide attackers with detailed insights into system operations, including sensor readings, alarm states, and configuration parameters. This intelligence enables more sophisticated follow-up attacks, such as precise spoofing or injection of malicious commands if other vulnerabilities exist in the MQTT broker implementation, or simply facilitates targeted social engineering based on observed operational patterns.
From a classification perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-319, which describes cleartext transmission of sensitive information over an exposed channel. It also maps to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1048, specifically Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol, as the attacker utilizes MQTT traffic for data exfiltration rather than standard HTTP or DNS channels. The lack of encryption violates fundamental principles outlined in NIST SP 800-53 regarding transmission confidentiality and integrity requirements for information systems handling sensitive operational data.
To mitigate this risk, it is imperative to reconfigure the Trueview TI8161 MQTT client settings to enforce TLS encryption on port 8883 instead of using plaintext port 1883. Administrators must ensure that valid server certificates are installed and trusted by the device to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks during the handshake process. If upgrading firmware is not immediately possible, network segmentation strategies should be implemented to restrict MQTT traffic to only those subnets where authorized management stations reside. Additionally, deploying intrusion detection systems capable of monitoring for unencrypted MQTT sessions on internal networks can help identify and alert on this misconfiguration before it leads to a security breach.