CCcam 2026: setting up the server and config from scratch

If you are reading this, you already know what a C-line is and why sharing is needed. This material is not an introduction to the topic. It is an analysis of how tocccam 2026 in the year 2026, raise a working stack, not break it at the first update of the image, and understand when it is time to switch to OScam and when CCcam is still quite sufficient.

The protocol lives longer than many expected. The daemon has long been abandoned by developers, the last stable branch — 2.3.x — has not received updates for several years. But port 12000 is still listening on thousands of receivers around the world. Let's figure out why and what to do about it.

Is CCcam relevant in 2026?

The state of the CCcam protocol today

ProtocolCCcam — not the CCcam daemon — is doing quite well. These are different things, and confusion here can be costly. The CCcam binary has not been updated for a long time, has known memory leaks on long sessions, and works poorly with new DVB stacks in kernels 5.x+. But the CWS (Cardsharing Words Stream) exchange protocol, which everyone calls the "cccam protocol," is supported in OScam, Wicardd, and other daemons.

In practice, incccam 2026 most providers maintain C-lines precisely through OScam with emulation of the cccam protocol. The client receives a standard C-line likeC: host 12000 user pass, unaware that on the other end there is not a CCcam daemon at all.

The default port is 12000. The WebInfo interface is 16001. Both are specified in CCcam.cfg with the directivesSERVER LISTEN PORT andWEBINFO PORT. It makes sense to change them if the required port is already occupied on the machine or if you want to hide the standard endpoint.

CCcam vs OScam: when to choose what

CCcam is chosen when there is no other option. An old receiver with a closed image, where the OScam package is not available, or a provider that fundamentally issues only a CCcam config. In other cases, OScam wins on all parameters.

OScam is an open project, updated regularly, supports flexible reader/account logic with priorities, has a normal web interface, and detailed logging. CCcam in comparison is a black box. You will not see where exactly the ECM request is failing and how many hops the response has gone through.

A good compromise: OScam holds physical readers and local cards, while client C-lines are serviced through the module[protocol] cccam inside OScam. This way, you get compatibility with clients expecting CCcam and all the flexibility of OScam inside.

Support for the latest version 2.3.x on modern receivers

Version 2.3.x runs on Enigma2 images like OpenPLi, OpenATV, DreamElite — provided that the binary is compiled for the required architecture (mipsel, armv7, aarch64). On images with glibc 2.31+, there may be dependency issues. Check vialdd /var/bin/CCcam — if you see "not found" in the dependencies, it will not run.

On Raspberry Pi with LibreELEC or CoreELEC, the native CCcam daemon works unstably. It is better to install OScam right away.

Installation and file structure of CCcam

Placement of the binary and access rights (/var/bin, chmod 755)

The binary is placed in/var/bin/CCcam. On some images, the path is different —/usr/bin/CCcam or/usr/local/bin/CCcam. Check that the daemon was found:which CCcam.

After copying, be sure to:

chmod 755 /var/bin/CCcam

Without the executable bit, the daemon simply will not start, and there will be no clear error message. Check the running process:

ps aux | grep CCcam

If the line exists — the daemon is alive. If not — check the log:/tmp/cccam.log or/var/log/CCcam.log depending on the image.

Main files: CCcam.cfg, CCcam.channelinfo, CCcam.providers

CCcam.cfg — the main config, it contains everything: C-lines, F-lines, server parameters.CCcam.channelinfo — mapping CAID/SID to human-readable channel names, needed only for WebInfo.CCcam.providers — provider database for display in the interface.

The last two files are not required for sharing to work. If they are missing — CCcam will start normally, just WebInfo will show raw hex identifiers instead of names.

An important point: on some Enigma2 images, especially based on OE-A 4.x, the folder/etc/ is mounted from tmpfs andis reset when the image is updated. Place the configs in/var/etc/ — this directory is usually preserved. Check where your version of CCcam looks for the config:find / -name CCcam.cfg 2>/dev/null.

Autostart via init.d or systemd on Enigma2

On classic Enigma2 images with System V, the autostart script is placed in/etc/init.d/CCcam. Minimum working script:

#!/bin/sh&

Make it executable and add to autostart:chmod +x /etc/init.d/CCcam&& update-rc.d CCcam defaults. On images with systemd (found on x86 builds), a unit is created in/etc/systemd/system/cccam.service withRestart=always.

CCcam.cfg configuration: parsing key parameters

C-lines (C: host port user pass) and parameters { 0:0:2 }

C-line syntax:

C: hostname 12000 username password { 0:0:2 }

Curly braces at the end — an optional block of CWS flags. Format{ reshare:reshare_distance:number_of_retries }. The value0:0:2 means: do not retransmit cards from this server further (reshare=0), distance 0, two retries on error.

If flags are not specified — default values from global config directives are used. For most client C-lines, the block in parentheses can be omitted altogether, nothing will break.

Multiple C-lines — several lines in a row. CCcam will use them in turn if the primary is unavailable. Order matters: the first line is the priority server.

F-lines for sharing: F: user pass uphops downhops

F-line creates an account for a client connecting to your server:

F: clientuser clientpass 1 0 { 0:0:0 }

Here1 — uphops (how many hops up the client can "see"),0 — downhops (how many hops down from the client are allowed to retransmit). Setting uphops greater than 1 without understanding the consequences is a bad idea: it opens the client to cards from higher links in the chain, which is usually undesirable.

downhops=0 means that the client cannot further share cards. If you are building a sharing chain — increase carefully, each additional hop adds latency and reduces stability.

Server directives: SERVER LISTEN PORT, ALLOW TELNET, WEBINFO

Key directives for the server part:

SERVER LISTEN PORT : 12000

ALLOW TELNET : no — must be turned off. Telnet CCcam does not encrypt traffic, and an open telnet port to the outside is a direct hole. Similarly with WebInfo:WEBINFO ALLOW EXTERNAL ACCESS : no limits access to the interface only from localhost. If remote access to WebInfo is needed — proxy through an SSH tunnel, do not open port 16001 directly to the internet.

Port 12000 is also better to close at the firewall level for everything except known client IPs. iptables rule:iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 12000 -s CLIENT_IP -j ACCEPT&& iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 12000 -j DROP.

Stability parameters: DISABLE EMM, KEEPALIVE, RECV TIMEOUT

Three parameters that most often affect stability in long sessions:

DISABLE EMM : yes

DISABLE EMM : yes — disable the processing of EMM messages (Entitlement Management Messages). On client installations, this is almost always necessary: EMM generates unnecessary traffic and load, and they are only needed when updating keys on the physical card.KEEPALIVE TIMEOUT : 30 — keepalive interval in seconds; too large a value leads to the dropped connection being detected late.RECV TIMEOUT : 5000 — response wait timeout in milliseconds; if the ping to the server is more than 200ms, it should be increased to 8000.

How to choose a C-line provider: criteria without names

What to look for: uptime, local cards, ping to the server

First — ping. Telnet to the host on port 12000 — faster than 80ms is good, up to 150ms is acceptable, above 200ms will start to cause stutters on HD channels. The ECM request should fit within 300-500ms in total, otherwise the decoder simply won't keep up.

Second — local cards vs. reshare. A server with a physical card in the reader gives an ECM time of 100-300ms. Reshare from another server adds at least one more round-trip and foreign processing. Ask your provider directly: are the cards local or retransmitted. If they evade the question — it's likely reshare.

Third — uptime and confirmed history. A service operating for less than six months is a lottery. Normal uptime for a sharing server is 99%+ over a month.

Signs of unstable sharing (reshare, high uphops)

In WebInfo (port 16001), look at the "hops" column for connected readers. A value of 1 means the card is local or in the first link. A value of 3+ indicates deep reshare, and each hop can become a bottleneck or point of failure.

Another sign: ECM time fluctuates widely — sometimes 200ms, sometimes 1500ms. This is a sign of an unstable intermediate link in the chain. On a local card, ECM time is stable with a dispersion of ±50ms.

High uphops in the F-line for the client is also a signal: an honest server does not need the client to see several higher levels. If you are given a C-line with a recommendation to set{ 2:2:2 } — this is worth examining more closely.

Legal context and personal use

Sharing a card for which you have a subscription for personal viewing on multiple devices in the home is a legal situation that everyone assesses independently. Transferring access to third parties, especially commercially, is a different story and a different responsibility. This is not the place for legal advice, but ignoring this context is also foolish.

Diagnosis of frequent CCcam problems

FreezeOnBlack and channel freezes: causes and timeouts

FreezeOnBlack — the channel freezes and goes to a black screen — almost always means that the ECM request did not return in time. The decoder did not receive a fresh Control Word and stopped decrypting.

Normal ECM time: 100-500ms. If you see 800ms+ in WebInfo, artifacts begin. Above 1500ms — persistent freezes. Above 3000ms — the channel goes to a black screen or shows a mosaic.

The first thing we check: ping to the server (ping hostname) and ECM time in WebInfo simultaneously. If the ping is good, but ECM is high — the problem is on the server side or in the reshare chain. If the ping is bad — we look at the route (traceroute hostname) and the network configuration locally.

IncreasingRECV TIMEOUT in CCcam.cfg helps avoid the black screen, but does not solve the cause — it simply gives the daemon more time to wait for a response. The real solution is a faster server or another C-line.

No ECM / long ECM time: reading the CCcam log

The CCcam log is written by default to/tmp/cccam.log. The level of detail is set by the directiveDEBUG LEVEL : 1 (values 0-12, the higher the value, the more detailed, but the faster the file grows).

We look for lines in the log like:

ECM: CAID=0500 SID=1234 - answered in 245ms

"No answer after" — the specific reader is not responding. Check which specific reader (C-line) is generating this. If this is the only C-line — the problem is with the server. If there are several — it is possible that the CAID is not supported by your C-lines at all.

Check via telnet:telnet hostname 12000. If the connection cannot be established — the port is closed or the host is unreachable. If it connects and then immediately drops — incorrect credentials or the account is blocked.

C-line is not connecting (status OFF): ports and firewall

In WebInfo, the status "OFF" next to the C-line means: CCcam cannot establish a TCP connection with the server or authentication has failed.

Checklist in order:

1. Check host availability:ping hostname
2. Check port:telnet hostname 12000 ornc -zv hostname 12000
3. Check the firewall on the receiver:iptables -L -n | grep 12000
4. If the receiver is behind a router — ensure that outgoing TCP 12000 is not blocked
5. Check the time on the receiver:date — a desynchronization of more than 5 minutes breaks the CCcam handshake

About time — separately. CCcam uses a timestamp in the handshake protocol. If the receiver's clock is off by 10+ minutes from the real time, the server will reject the connection, and the log will give an unclear error. Synchronization:ntpdate pool.ntp.org or configure the NTP daemon via the image.

A separate story — receivers behind CGNAT. If the provider uses Carrier-Grade NAT, you do not have a real public IP, and port forwarding 12000 for incoming connections is impossible without a VPN tunnel (WireGuard or OpenVPN on VPS). For outgoing C-lines, CGNAT is usually not a problem — the TCP session is initiated from your side.

CPU overload and leaks on old images

CCcam 2.3.x has a known memory leak issue during prolonged operation and a large number of active C-lines. On a receiver with 256MB RAM, after 3-7 days of continuous operation, the process can occupy 80%+ of memory.

Monitoring:top orcat /proc/$(pidof CCcam)/status | grep VmRSS. If RSS grows linearly day by day — there is a leak. The solution at the image level — add a cron restart once a day:0 4 * * * /etc/init.d/CCcam restart.

High CPU (constantly above 30% on an idle daemon) — often the result of an enabled DEBUG LEVEL with a high value or enabled EMM with a large number of channels. SetDEBUG LEVEL : 0 in the production config andDISABLE EMM : yes.

Conflict over the DVB adapter when simultaneously running CCcam and OScam — a real situation on single-chip receivers. Two daemons cannot simultaneously hold/dev/dvb/adapter0/ca0. The correct scheme: OScam owns the physical reader, CCcam works only as a protocol proxy without access to the hardware — directiveUSE NEWCAMD : no and the absence of local readers in CCcam.cfg.

Summary on cccam 2026

The protocol is alive, the daemon is outdated. For new installations incccam 2026 it is more rational to use OScam with support for the cccam protocol: better diagnostics, no memory leaks, active development. CCcam as a binary is justified only where OScam physically does not start or a specific image requires it. The CCcam.cfg config with correct timeouts, closed WebInfo, and disabled EMM is a viable solution for years to come.