A security researcher has discovered that hundreds of self-hosted TeslaMate servers are exposing sensitive Tesla vehicle data to the public internet without any authentication, revealing real-time location tracking, charging patterns, and driving habits of unsuspecting owners.
TeslaMate is a popular open-source data logger that connects to Tesla’s official API to collect detailed vehicle telemetry including GPS coordinates, battery health, charging sessions, trip histories, and cabin temperatures.
The application runs on port 4000 and typically includes a Grafana dashboard on port 3000 for data visualization.
Widespread Exposure Discovered
Using internet-wide scanning tools, the researcher identified nearly 900 publicly accessible TeslaMate installations across multiple continents.
The methodology involved scanning the entire IPv4 address space for open port 4000, then filtering results to identify TeslaMate’s distinctive web interface fingerprint.
The exposed servers revealed alarming details about Tesla owners’ daily routines.
The researcher could access exact GPS coordinates of parked vehicles, track commute patterns, identify home addresses, and even determine when cars weren’t present at their usual locations, as per a report by Researcher.
In many cases, the data painted a complete picture of owners’ movements, vacation schedules, and charging behaviors.
Critical Security Gaps
The root problem lies in TeslaMate’s architecture: the application ships with no built-in authentication and binds to all network interfaces by default.
When deployed on cloud servers or systems with public IP addresses, this configuration makes all vehicle data instantly accessible to anyone with a web browser.
The researcher created an interactive map at teslamap.io displaying the global distribution of exposed Tesla vehicles, demonstrating how the leaked GPS coordinates could be weaponized by malicious actors.
The visualization showed concentrated clusters in major metropolitan areas across North America, Europe, and Asia.
The exposed data presents serious privacy and physical security risks. Criminals could use the information to identify when vehicles aren’t home, track daily routines for burglary planning, or locate high-value targets with sufficient battery charge for theft operations.
The combination of precise location data and real-time vehicle status creates an unprecedented intelligence feed for potential attackers.
Security experts recommend several immediate remediation steps for TeslaMate operators. Installing a reverse proxy with basic authentication provides a simple first line of defense.
The researcher suggests using Nginx with password protection as a minimum security measure.
Additional recommendations include binding the application to localhost only, enabling proper firewall rules, changing default Grafana credentials, and deploying behind VPN access where possible.
The TeslaMate maintainers have acknowledged the issue and plan to implement secure-by-default authentication in upcoming releases.
However, hundreds of exposed installations remain active, continuing to broadcast sensitive vehicle data until individual operators implement proper security controls.
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