# Exploitation

> Anonymous subscribe, unauthorized publish, retained message harvest guides

- **URL:** https://hackindex.io/services/mqtt/exploitation
- **Service:** [MQTT](https://hackindex.io/services/mqtt.md)
- **Published:** 2026-03-16
- **Updated:** 2026-03-29

MQTT exploitation targets brokers that allow unauthenticated connections. Publishing to control topics can trigger actions on subscribed devices, from toggling outputs to injecting malicious commands.

Retained message poisoning plants persistent payloads that every new subscriber receives automatically. Message injection into existing topic flows can manipulate device behavior, corrupt data pipelines, or trigger denial of service conditions across IoT infrastructure.

## Guides

- [MQTT Anonymous Subscribe and Traffic Harvest](https://hackindex.io/services/mqtt/exploitation/mqtt-anonymous-subscribe.md)
- [MQTT Retained Message Harvest](https://hackindex.io/services/mqtt/exploitation/mqtt-retained-message-harvest.md)
- [MQTT Unauthorized Publish and Device Control](https://hackindex.io/services/mqtt/exploitation/mqtt-unauthorized-publish.md)