Troubleshooting & FAQ

Is it legal to use Cameradar?

Use Cameradar only on systems you own or are explicitly authorized to test. Do not scan unauthorized targets.

Why does Cameradar say a camera does not require authentication, or fail to detect auth type?

This is often caused by cameras that do not fully respect RTSP protocol behavior. When this happens, Cameradar may not reliably detect or negotiate authentication.

If you suspect this case:

• Run with --debug and capture logs
• Open an issue with logs and a minimal reproducible command
• Remove or anonymize sensitive IPs, hostnames, usernames, and passwords

Why are attack requests dropped, or why do I get repeated timeouts?

This usually points to unstable or high-latency networks. Increase timeout and add delay between attempts, then retry.

cameradar --targets 192.168.1.0/24 --timeout 4000ms --attack-interval 250ms --ui plain

If it still fails, test network quality and include results in an issue:

• ping to target IPs
• traceroute (or tracert on Windows)
• debug logs from cameradar --debug

Warning

Always anonymize IPs and hostnames before posting.

Docker says image platform does not match host platform. What should I do?

That warning means your machine CPU architecture and the image architecture differ.

Step 1: find your OS and architecture

• Linux and macOS:

uname -s
uname -m

• Windows PowerShell:

$env:OS
$env:PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE

Common architecture names:

• x86_64 or amd64 = 64-bit Intel/AMD
• arm64 or aarch64 = 64-bit ARM
• armv7 = 32-bit ARM

Step 2: run with the matching platform

Example for AMD64 hosts:

docker run --rm -t --platform linux/amd64 --net=host ullaakut/cameradar --targets 192.168.1.0/24

Example for ARM64 hosts:

docker run --rm -t --platform linux/arm64 --net=host ullaakut/cameradar --targets 192.168.1.0/24

If Docker emulates another architecture, it may run slower. If possible, prefer a native-architecture image or a release binary for your platform.

Why does Cameradar say custom credentials/routes were not found?

Most of the time, this is an issue with the positional arguments given to Docker. All Docker runtime flags (-v, --net, --platform) must appear before the image name. Program flags (--custom-credentials, --custom-routes, --targets) must appear after the image name.

Bad example (incorrect order):

docker run --rm -t --net=host ullaakut/cameradar -v /tmp/dictionaries:/tmp/dictionaries --custom-credentials /tmp/dictionaries/credentials.json --targets 192.168.1.0/24

Good example (correct order):

docker run --rm -t --net=host -v /tmp/dictionaries:/tmp/dictionaries ullaakut/cameradar --custom-credentials /tmp/dictionaries/credentials.json --custom-routes /tmp/dictionaries/routes --targets 192.168.1.0/24

Why is no camera detected?

Targets might be are out of scope, unreachable, or not serving RTSP. Double-check target formatting and values.

Valid examples:

• 192.168.1.10
• 192.168.1.0/24
• localhost
• 192.168.1.140-255

I get scanning runtime errors related to pcap, nmap, or masscan

Use up-to-date versions of scanning dependencies when possible. Older versions can cause runtime incompatibilities or missing capabilities.

Recommended checks:

• Confirm nmap is installed and current
• Confirm masscan is installed and current when used
• Confirm pcap/libpcap is up to date
• Re-test with --scanner nmap and --scanner masscan to compare behavior

Does Cameradar support multiple authentication methods?

Yes. Cameradar supports basic and digest authentication.

Which discovery scanner should I choose?

Use nmap for more reliable service identification. Use masscan for faster large-range discovery.

Where should I start if I want to contribute?

Read the Contributing guide.