TCP proxy over MQTT using a cheap ESP32 microcontroller

Full info and code : https://github.com/hack-tramp/ESP-MQTTunnel/ A working PoC that turns an ESP32 into a hardware proxy that tunnels traffic over MQTT. Because it connects to a MQTT broker, you can bypass firewalls/censorship without open ports/public IP (which would be needed for direct ESP32 - laptop comms). All traffic is relayed raw — no TLS interception, no decryption. What it does Here's an example to show how this works (for more technical details see below). The purpose is to bypass internet restrictions. Location A: A country with highly censored / very restrictive internet. Laptop running Win10 + Firefox + local python proxy. Location B: Uncensored, free internet. ESP32 is connected here. Location C: MQTT server - this must be reachable from A and B but does not have to be in a place with uncensored internet. I used HiveMQ cloud (free tier). (definition: MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) is a lightweight, open-standard messaging protocol designed for