Preface: AIS-Catcher is a MIT licensed dual band AIS receiver for Linux, Windows and Raspberry Pi. It is compatible with RTL-SDR dongles and the Airspy HF+.
AIS stands for Automatic Identification System and is used by marine vessels to broadcast their GPS locations in order to help avoid collisions and aide with rescues. An RTL-SDR with the right software can be used to receive and decode these signals, and plot ship positions on a map.
Background: You can set up your own receiver at home. With just a small USB radio adapter and a simple antenna, you can receive live signals from nearby ships and decode them directly on your computer or Raspberry Pi.
Setup requirement for an SDR AIS Receiver:
-RTL-SDR dongle (e.g. Nooelec NESDR, RTL-SDR Blog V3)
-VHF antenna (marine band, tuned for ~162 MHz)
-Raspberry Pi (Model 3 or later) or any PC
-Internet connection (for updates, optional data sharing)
Recommended Command (Dual-channel AIS, Auto Gain)
This does the following:
-A listens to both AIS frequencies:
Channel 1: 161.975 MHz
Channel 2: 162.025 MHz
-g auto lets AIS-catcher automatically choose the gain setting
Uses default device (-d 0) unless otherwise specified
You should see continuous outputs like this:
!AIVDM,1,1,,B,15MuqP001oK>rWnE`D0?;wvP0<2R,0*6D
These are raw NMEA AIS messages being received in real time.
Vulnerability details: CVE-2025-66216 – AIS-catcher is a multi-platform AIS receiver. Prior to version 0.64, a heap buffer overflow vulnerability has been identified in the AIS::Message class of AIS-catcher. This vulnerability allows an attacker to write approximately 1KB of arbitrary data into a 128-byte buffer. This issue has been patched in version 0.64.
Best Practices:
Never store data() pointer across operations that can reallocate (like push_back, resize, insert, emplace).
If you need a stable pointer, consider:
- std::deque (doesn’t invalidate all pointers on growth).
- std::vector::reserve() before operations to avoid reallocation.
- Or use indices instead of raw pointers.
Official announcement: Please refer to the link for details – https://www.tenable.com/cve/CVE-2025-66216