Understanding Cyber Risks for Pro AV: Attacks via NDI, RTP, and SIP

In the era of networked media, Pro AV systems increasingly rely on IP-based transports such as NDI, RTP, and SIP to deliver video, audio, control signals and intercom across venues, studios, and installations. This transition enables flexibility, scalability, and convergence—but also introduces a broad attack surface for cyber adversaries. Threats that once targeted IT domains now directly jeopardize live productions, facility integrity, and content security.

In this article, we analyze the real risks associated with NDI, RTP, and SIP in Pro AV environments. We break down attack vectors, case studies, mitigation strategies, and design guidelines. Engineering, operations, and security teams will gain insight into how AV over IP can be hardened without sacrificing performance or latency.

Why AV over IP demands cybersecurity vigilance

Traditional AV systems relied on closed-loop signal paths (SDI, AES/EBU, proprietary cabling) with limited network exposure. In contrast, IP-based AV architectures expose media and control streams to shared networks, DNS infrastructure, and routing domains. That shift means that AV systems inherit many of the same vulnerabilities as enterprise IT systems, while introducing unique challenges: low latency requirements, real-time synchronization constraints, and high throughput media flows.

Additionally, AV endpoints often lack standard IT security controls. Many NDI, RTP, or SIP devices are embedded appliances with minimal firmware patchability, weak authentication, no secure boot, and limited logging. Attackers seeking lateral movement, denial of service, or eavesdropping have direct paths into media workflows, often bypassing IT visibility.

A successful breach in a broadcast control room, stadium AV network, or corporate event setup can disrupt live content, insert malicious overlays, hijack streams, or access premium content. For high-stakes events (concerts, political broadcasts, esports), the financial, reputational, and regulatory impact of downtime or content tampering is severe.

Attack vectors via NDI, RTP, and SIP

Below are common attack surfaces and how adversaries exploit them in Pro AV deployments.

NDI-based attacks

NDI (Network Device Interface) is a high-performance IP protocol for video and audio transport adopted widely in broadcasting and event AV systems. Because it is designed for LAN environments, many NDI streams are sent without encryption or authentication by default. That simplicity enables easy discovery of sources via network scanning tools.

Discovery and enumeration

Attackers can scan local subnets for NDI sources (via multicast, mDNS, or SSDP). Once identified, a malicious endpoint may attempt to subscribe, snoop on the video stream, or inject manipulated frames or overlays. In absence of authentication, open-source NDI clients can connect and intercept streams.

Stream injection & overlay injection

With access, an attacker may inject overlays, replace frame content, or overlay malicious graphics (e.g. branding, messages, misleading captions). In live events, such tampering can disrupt audience experience or deliver false information.

Denial of Service and flooding

Flooding the NDI stream with synthetic subscriber requests, or injecting junk frames, can overwhelm sender buffers or decoders, generating frame drops or total stream outages. Simultaneous attacks on multiple sources can cascade into a broader AV outage.

Man-in-the-middle and replay

An attacker can intercept and replay NDI frames, causing out-of-sequence or stale frames in the target device. In cases of audience monitoring, the replayed feed may mislead operators or participants.

RTP-based vulnerabilities

RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol) is foundational in media streaming over IP, carrying audio/video in many Pro AV and broadcast systems. It is often paired with RTCP and control protocols but was not built with robust security by default.

Packet interception and stream eavesdropping

Without Secure RTP (SRTP), RTP streams are sent in plain payloads. Attackers capturing packets can reconstruct audio/video content, extract sensitive visuals or conversations, or insert frame fragments.

Packet spoofing and insertion

By injecting crafted RTP packets with manipulated sequence numbers or timestamps, attackers can cause jitter, frame misordering, artifacting, or visual/audio glitches downstream. This is particularly harmful in low-latency, synchronized workflows.

Replay attacks

Captured RTP segments replayed later can introduce audio/video overlap or confusion in downstream systems, especially when sender clocks or session identifiers are reset.

RTCP and control abuse

Attackers may exploit RTCP (RTP Control Protocol) messages, sending false receiver reports, congestion notifications, or sequence resets to disrupt transport logic, degrade quality, or break synchronization.

SIP and signaling attacks

SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is used for session control, call setup, intercom, voice, and sometimes media paths in AV systems. Its misuse opens further security exposure.

Registration hijacking

Without strong authentication, rogue endpoints may register themselves in SIP proxy or PBX systems, intercept calls, eavesdrop conversations, or pose as trusted devices.

INVITE manipulation and SIP injection

Attackers may craft INVITE, re-INVITE, or OPTIONS packets to redirect call paths, insert themselves in media paths, downgrade codec selections, or force fallback to insecure transports.

SIP flooding and resource exhaustion

Overloading SIP control servers with spurious requests (INVITE floods, OPTIONS floods) can degrade service responsiveness, call setup times, and interrupt live events dependent on communication links.

Codec spoofing and malformed payloads

Adversarial SIP messages may specify or negotiate malformed or unsupported codecs, triggering buffer overflows, decoder crashes, or memory corruption in embedded SIP stacks.

Real-world examples and lessons learned

While published public cases in Pro AV are still limited, lessons from broader media and telecom settings illustrate how plausible attacks operate.

In 2023, a major media facility reported that unauthorized access to its IP subnet allowed an attacker to inject onscreen graphics onto feeds during a live broadcast. The attack leveraged weak network segmentation and open video streams.

In another case, a SIP-based intercom system at a large conference center was compromised via credential brute force. The attacker silently listened to backstage communications, causing confusion during production.

Though not always disclosed publicly, industry insiders warn that many AV integrators underestimate risk because devices are “behind the scenes.” As AV systems migrate into enterprise networks, they inherit threat models from IT and must be governed accordingly.

Key lessons: assume compromise, design for isolation, monitor traffic behavior, and limit default trust in AV endpoints.

Strategies and best practices for mitigation

Securing NDI, RTP, and SIP in AV networks requires a holistic approach that involves architecture, policy, and tooling. Below are effective strategies.

Network architecture and segmentation

Segment AV traffic away from general corporate or guest networks using VLANs, VRFs, or physically separate switches. Enforce strict routing controls so only authorized devices can access media paths. Use private IP ranges and block inter-VLAN traversal unless explicitly needed.

Implement Zero Trust principles: never assume an AV device is trustworthy. Require authentication, validate endpoints, and continuously monitor connections.

Encryption and authenticated media transport

Enable SRTP (Secure RTP) wherever possible to encrypt audio/video traffic. Use robust key exchange protocols (DTLS-SRTP or SDES) to prevent key exposure. For NDI, adopt NDI Secure (NDI | HX Secure or NDI Secure SDK) which permits authentication and optional encryption of NDI streams.

For signaling, use SIP over TLS (SIPS) and enforce strong mutual authentication for SIP endpoints. Avoid legacy plaintext port 5060 in favor of 5061 or other secure ports with certificate-based validation.
For NDI Secure, AES-128 in CTR mode is used with key exchange via TLS. RTP requires SRTP (RFC 3711), while SIP should be moved to port 5061 with TLS and certificate-based validation. Promwad implements Zero Trust AV architectures with FPGA-level firewalls and PKI-based authentication to ensure trusted endpoint verification.

Endpoint hardening and authentication

Require strong credentials for device management interfaces (web UI, SSH, APIs). Disable or replace default passwords. If hardware supports secure boot or signed firmware, enforce these features to prevent loading malicious code.

Log all admin actions and changes. Monitor firmware upgrades, reboot events, and configuration changes. Isolate remote management traffic to out-of-band or separate VLANs with strict firewalling.

Traffic inspection and anomaly detection

Deploy flow-based network sensors or IDS/IPS systems that understand media protocol patterns (NDI, RTP, SIP). Define baselines for expected traffic volumes, packet sizes, and session lifespans. Trigger alerts when deviations (e.g. unexplained NDI source announcements, repeated SIP INVITE failures) occur.

Use packet capture or deep packet inspection on mirrored AV network segments to audit content and protocol behavior. Correlate metadata anomalies—e.g. multiple subscribers to an NDI source, burst RTCP messages—from AV systems with IT logs.

Rate limiting, QoS, and resilience

Rate-limit control-plane traffic (IGMP, mDNS, SSDP) to prevent flooding. On media paths, employ QoS to prioritize essential traffic. Introduce redundancy or fallback paths so a DoS or flood incident does not collapse customer-facing services.

Use stream / session timeout limits to automatically drop stale or inactive connections. Enforce maximum subscriber counts and reject excess connections to NDI transmitters to prevent overload.

Secure provisioning and firmware integrity

Only accept firmware updates signed and verified against vendor certificates. Use periodic integrity checks and watchdogs to detect unauthorized changes. On device enrollment, use certificate-based provisioning and avoid manual password-based provisioning at scale.

Operational policies and training

Maintain inventory of all AV devices, firmware versions, and configuration baselines. Respond to security bulletins from AV hardware vendors. Conduct regular penetration testing on AV networks, especially prior to major events or upgrades.

Train AV and security teams on AV protocols, threat models, and response playbooks. Include NDI, RTP, SIP in red team exercises.

Incident response and rollback

Prepare fallback plans: e.g. fallback to SDI, redundant encoders, or offline backup systems in case of attack. In a breach, you may isolate segments quickly by disabling routing or port-level shutdown. Maintain backup configurations and ensure rollback paths in case a device is compromised.

Ensure forensics ability: preserve logs, packet captures, and device memory snapshots. Use forensic evidence to trace attack vectors and harden for future events.

Designing Pro AV systems with security in mind

To build resilient AV networks, security must be baked in from the start, not retrofitted. Some principles:

• Least privilege: only allow each device the minimal connections, ports, and protocols it needs.
   
• Defense in depth: layered controls (segmentation, encryption, monitoring) reduce single-point failures.
   
• Secure by default: devices should ship with secure settings, not default open modes.
   
• Scalable policy enforcement: use centralized authentication, certificate management, and network policy engines to uniformly govern devices.
   
• Resilience & redundancy: always plan fallback options and diversified media paths.
   

Systems built this way are more resilient to zero-day exploits, configuration mistakes, and insider threats.

Practical checklist for AV security readiness

• Inventory: log all NDI, RTP, SIP devices and their firmware versions.
   
• Segment: isolate AV traffic via VLANs or private networks.
   
• Enable secure transport: SRTP, NDI Secure, SIPS.
   
• Lock down management: disable default accounts, enforce MFA or certificate auth.
   
• Monitor traffic: baseline patterns, detect anomalies, enable alerts.
   
• Control subscriptions: limit simultaneous NDI clients, drop stale sessions.
   
• Update firmware: apply signed updates, integrity checks, watchdog resets.
   
• Test regularly: simulate NDI or SIP attacks, validate detection, rehearse fallbacks.
   
• Train staff: security awareness for AV engineers and operators.
   
• Audit and review: periodic pen tests, review logs, adjust policies.
   

Executing this checklist incrementally builds strong AV system hygiene, without disrupting production.

Future threat trends in AV cybersecurity

Industry watchers anticipate that AV networks will become attractive targets in more sectors: smart cities, digital signage, remote collaboration systems, and virtual/hybrid events. Attackers could weaponize misconfigured AV streams to deliver disinformation, insert fake cues, or disrupt live shows.

Emerging trends include AI-powered content tampering (deepfakes in live streams), side-channel media attacks (e.g. embedding triggers in video that compromise viewers’ devices), and protocol-level exploits in future AV standards. As AV systems converge with IT and cloud, adversaries may use broader supply chain attacks to insert backdoors into AV firmware or distribution chains.

AI/QC systems and AV security frameworks will need to evolve together: combining media integrity checks with cybersecurity measures. For example, anomaly detection over video content, watermark verification, and trust chains in AV transport protocols will become more common.

Promwad’s approach to securing Pro AV environments

Promwad supports clients by designing and implementing robust security layers in AV-over-IP systems. We integrate Zero Trust architectures tailored for NDI, RTP, and SIP; deploy hardened encoders, firmware auditing, and encrypted streams; and build monitoring systems with heuristics tuned for media patterns.

For live production clients, Promwad architects fallback pipelines and rapid isolation mechanisms so that during an incident, the AV workflow remains intact. We conduct threat modeling, security audits, and red teaming exercises specifically targeting media systems. Our goal is to deliver AV architectures that don’t compromise performance, yet resist real-world cyber risks.

AI Overview: Cybersecurity Attacks via NDI / RTP / SIP

As Pro AV systems migrate to IP-based workflows, protocols like NDI, RTP, and SIP have become critical for real-time video, audio, and control transport. Yet these same protocols expose AV networks to cyber risks — from stream hijacking and data interception to denial-of-service and unauthorized device access. Understanding and mitigating these threats is now a core requirement for every broadcast and Pro AV deployment.

Key Applications: securing AV-over-IP networks, encrypted media transport (SRTP, SIPS, NDI Secure), real-time monitoring, access control, Zero Trust segmentation, firmware integrity validation.

Benefits: protection against eavesdropping and tampering, resilient live production, reduced downtime, compliance with security frameworks, improved operational visibility.

Challenges: limited authentication in legacy devices, lack of encryption in default NDI/RTP stacks, balancing low latency with encryption overhead, aligning AV and IT security policies.

Outlook: convergence of broadcast and IT security standards, adoption of Zero Trust AV architectures, FPGA-assisted packet inspection for real-time defense, and AI-driven anomaly detection for media streams by 2028.

Related Terms: AV-over-IP security, Secure RTP (SRTP), Secure SIP (SIPS), NDI Secure, Zero Trust AV, AV network segmentation, real-time threat monitoring, firmware hardening.