I need some help using Zosi C611 cam without official app

[Ben321]

I've been working on reverse engineering how it works. Typically you would scan the QRCode on the back of the camera, using the app's builtin scanner, and then it would set it up for you. In a previous version of the app, you could do this without an actual Zosi account. The latest version of the app, it won't let you add any cameras without first having an account with Zosi. You can still look at most of the GUI of the app in "local" mode, but you need a logged in Zosi account for the app to now let you add cameras. Anyways, I always planned to try to connect it to PC really (using the mobile app was just to test the cam to make sure it worked), so now's as good a time as any to toss the app, and start figuring out how to get it to work on PC.

First thing I did was reset the camera (pin in the reset hole, until the automated voice says the device was reset) to get back to factory defaults. This gets it back to the condition it was in when I bought it. So then I connected my PC to the AP (access point) provided by the camera, using its default AP password (which is ipc12345678 as documented on the official website). The next part was trickier, to figure out the IP address of the device, I first tried to run IPCONFIG in the console on my PC, but it didn't report the "default gateway" which typically would be the IP address of the router. What it did report was the IP address of my PC on the network, which was 192.168.5.101, so I figured the AP was at IP address 192.168.5.1 and that turned out to be correct.

However, there's no video stream at this address. There's no web-based control panel for web-browser access. I almost gave up at this point, but I decided to run a port scan, and found one port open. I scanned all ports from 1 to 65535, and only one of those ports was open. The open port was 23. Now that is normally the port for telnet, but the problem is I don't know what telnet commands the camera uses. That's why I'm here asking at this forum. I'm guessing that this telnet connection is typically what the smart phone app uses to send the initial setup commands to the camera, but I have no clue what these commands are. For that, I'd have to somehow get the app to talk to my computer, and have my computer act as a proxy between the app and the camera, and monitor the communications. I wouldn't even know how to begin doing something like that though. So I hope someone else here has managed to reverse engineer it thoroughly enough to actually find what commands it responds to from the telnet console, and what commands the camera sends back in its responses.

Anybody here with info about its telnet system, please post a reply. I can't find anything with google searches, and certainly nothing from the official Zosi website.

 

[IAmATeaf]

If you get something like Putty and open a connection to the cam using port 23 check if you get promoted to login within Putty?

 

[Ben321]

If you get something like Putty and open a connection to the cam using port 23 check if you get promoted to login within Putty?

Yep. I do get a login console. I've heard that the default login should be username is admin, and password doesn't exist. So I tried that and it didn't work. Maybe that's just the default login for cameras that have been initially setup, but haven't yet been configured with a password? Ive tried various passwords for the admin username, including "password" and even its AP password (the one used to initially get onto its wireless network) which is ipc12345678. Still no luck. My guess is the smart app itself is programed to use one standard password for all cameras at this point in initialization of the camera, but I don't know how to dump the password from the APK file for the app. I'm not even sure that admin is the correct username here.

If anybody knows the correct username and password to log into the telnet console on a Zosi C611 camera, please let me know.

 

[Ben321]

Sorry to bump this, but I really need to know the default telnet login info for Zosi C611 cameras. I seriously hope it's not going to be a situation where nobody knows the default login info for this model of camera. @IAmATeaf if you know the default login info for this camera model, it would really help if you could reply to me and tell me what it is.

 

[Ben321]

If you get something like Putty and open a connection to the cam using port 23 check if you get promoted to login within Putty?

Yes I do get a login prompt, but I don't know what the the default telnet console username and password should be for the Zosi C611. If you have any what the username and password should be here, please tell me.

 

[IAmATeaf]

The fact that nobody has replied probably means that nobody here knows?

Closed cloud or app based systems like this don’t like to give password out else it wouldn’t be closed?

 

[TonyR]

@Ben321 ,
Most of here love challenges but some also balance effort with reward. Is this "reverse engineering" (your term) of a $20 indoor camera just a personal challenge?
Don't get me wrong, it's your time, your choice.....I'm just curious.

 

[fergenheimer]

I just did a quick search for "Zosi SDK" and there was a promising github page and a subredit. I did not pursue further but you might find valuable info or post your questions on the subredit. Hopefully it is an active community.