Transparent proxy server that works as a poor man's VPN (opens in new tab)

(github.com)

44 pointsnxnfufunezn10y ago24 comments

24 comments

I love sshuttle. You can point it at any ssh server (that has python installed on it) and you don't need any special privileges on the remote end.

One problem is that it does not support DNS tunneling if FreeBSD is your client.[1]

Item: we (rsync.net) would be willing to pay for development that gets sshuttle to work properly and bulletproof on FreeBSD. In fact, we would be willing to pay for sshuttle development in general. Email us.[2]

Also, what is up with this new fork ... which speaks from the original authors point of view and, in fact, has his own personal notes cut and pasted into the README. In fact, the contact information is the original author - Avery Pennarun apenwarr@gmail.com - what's going on here ?

[1] No, the note about IPFIREWALL_FORWARD does not fix this problem.

[2] info@rsync.net

jaytaylor10y ago

sshuttle is really cool, except both macs I've run it on would have weird system crashes while running it.

I ended up creating a proper VPN via a microtik router and have enjoyed the superior performance compared to sshuttle, though it was several orders of magnitude more effort to get going! sshuttle was almost too easy to get up and running :)

kbenson10y ago

A python script should not be able to make your Mac crash (depending on what you mean by "weird system crash"). If it actually causes a hard crash, that likely either points to a weird hardware/software problem on your system, or it's a bug that Apple would like to know about if they don't already.

1 more reply

hackmiester10y ago

If you fork on github, you get the README with your fork. You have to actually go and edit it for it to be different.

rsync10y ago

Right, sure - but given that the readme has the authors personal backstory and his name and email, it surprises me that the forks author did not fix that up.

jepatrick10y ago

You can also just use a SSH to set up a socks proxy as well.

http://blog.jpatrick.io/tube-socks/

a5m010y ago

I see that this is a fork of a fork, what are the differences from the original?

rahimnathwani10y ago

Just use Shadowsocks, unless you're on iOS, in which case use PPTP. These both work reliably for me, and with the latest versions of OSX.

If you need something more resistant to DPI, check out stunnel or obfsproxy as carriers for OpenVPN. Switch ports regularly as well. You needn't change server config to do this: just use iptables to forward stuff so your server's stunnel daemon is listening on hundreds of ports.

akerl_10y ago

One of the primary use cases, as described on the main page linked, is for systems where you aren't an admin of the remote system, and thus can't use iptables as you describe.

CSDude10y ago

If you want a poorer VPN, you can use socat [1] or n2n[2], which both works great!

1: http://www.dest-unreach.org/socat/doc/socat-tun.html

2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N2n

jpgvm10y ago

Been using this for years, can be a little weird at times but usually works fairly well, even on OS X.

mailanik10y ago

Doesn't work on Yosemite!

X-Istence10y ago

It does. It was updated a couple of months ago to use the new pfctl framework of -E/-X to enable/disable the firewall and uses the existing hooks in the firewall to automatically insert/remove rules as necessary.

I've used it extensively on Yosemite.

1 more reply

jpgvm10y ago

If I remember correctly it does but you have to modify kernel setting of some description to make it work.

EDIT: Appears this fork does support Yosemite, it's even installable via Homebrew.

ausjke10y ago

I used this for a while in summer while I travelled to China, it worked shortly before the powerful GFW blocks it deadly, along with openvpn-over-443-port etc that I tried, which also failed soon after it's used for a short while.

FifteenChractrs10y ago

The great firewall won't block tor bridges on port 80 or 443. I've been there a time or two and used it :D

ausjke10y ago

it does, 443 still leaks pattens(e.g. packet length and when/how they're sent/received,etc), that GFW can detec and tell if it's a typical 443 or openvpn-over-443. also 80 has no security at all and I don't know what it can be used for this purpose.

2bluesc10y ago

Why not just use OpenVPN? It's just as simple (if not simpler) to setup and considerably more powerful.

An OpenVPN server can go from zero to done in under 5 minutes (for HN readers, less) with a Docker container: https://github.com/kylemanna/github

X-Istence10y ago

That might work if you have root on the system you are connecting to, but in a lot of cases you might not. In a corporate scenario sshuttle has been life saver because it makes it simple to make networks behind a jump server look and feel like they are just a router hop away. This makes using stuff like VMWare easier since it usually requires direct access to the hosts on various different ports and makes it difficult to set up port forwarding.

dangerlibrary10y ago

5 minutes is an exaggeration, but I've done it in an hour. It's not really OpenVPN's fault, though - most of that time was dealing with Windows firewall, home router port forwarding (through those god-awful, buggy http interfaces they put on routers), and iptables.

austinchou012610y ago

Absolutely will not in China, LOL

gbraad10y ago

Works well.

... Only recently had issues during the parade using with the Linode IP range. DigitalOcean no problems.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

24 comments

rsync10y ago

I love sshuttle. You can point it at any ssh server (that has python installed on it) and you don't need any special privileges on the remote end.

One problem is that it does not support DNS tunneling if FreeBSD is your client.[1]

[1] No, the note about IPFIREWALL_FORWARD does not fix this problem.

[2] info@rsync.net

jaytaylor10y ago

sshuttle is really cool, except both macs I've run it on would have weird system crashes while running it.

kbenson10y ago

1 more reply

hackmiester10y ago

If you fork on github, you get the README with your fork. You have to actually go and edit it for it to be different.

rsync10y ago

Right, sure - but given that the readme has the authors personal backstory and his name and email, it surprises me that the forks author did not fix that up.

jepatrick10y ago

You can also just use a SSH to set up a socks proxy as well.

http://blog.jpatrick.io/tube-socks/

a5m010y ago

I see that this is a fork of a fork, what are the differences from the original?

rahimnathwani10y ago

Just use Shadowsocks, unless you're on iOS, in which case use PPTP. These both work reliably for me, and with the latest versions of OSX.

akerl_10y ago

One of the primary use cases, as described on the main page linked, is for systems where you aren't an admin of the remote system, and thus can't use iptables as you describe.

CSDude10y ago

If you want a poorer VPN, you can use socat [1] or n2n[2], which both works great!

1: http://www.dest-unreach.org/socat/doc/socat-tun.html

2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N2n

jpgvm10y ago

Been using this for years, can be a little weird at times but usually works fairly well, even on OS X.

mailanik10y ago

Doesn't work on Yosemite!

X-Istence10y ago

I've used it extensively on Yosemite.

1 more reply

jpgvm10y ago

If I remember correctly it does but you have to modify kernel setting of some description to make it work.

EDIT: Appears this fork does support Yosemite, it's even installable via Homebrew.

ausjke10y ago

FifteenChractrs10y ago

The great firewall won't block tor bridges on port 80 or 443. I've been there a time or two and used it :D

ausjke10y ago

2bluesc10y ago

Why not just use OpenVPN? It's just as simple (if not simpler) to setup and considerably more powerful.

An OpenVPN server can go from zero to done in under 5 minutes (for HN readers, less) with a Docker container: https://github.com/kylemanna/github

X-Istence10y ago

dangerlibrary10y ago

austinchou012610y ago

Absolutely will not in China, LOL

gbraad10y ago

Works well.

... Only recently had issues during the parade using with the Linode IP range. DigitalOcean no problems.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse