DNS "leak" on Ubuntu

[dcarrera 0]

Hello,

 

I just started using AirVPN. I am very confused about the issue of DNS leaks and Linux. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find explanations in this forum; just the assertion that "DNS leaks don't happen on Linux". So...

 

1) When I go to dnsleak.com or dnsleaktest.com I get a warning that my DNS might be leaking. What does this warning mean for someone running Ubuntu 17.04?

 

2) If DNS leaks don't happen on Linux, what is this post about?:

 

https://airvpn.org/topic/22715-leaking-dns-with-ubuntu-1704/

 

What is the problem that that fix is fixing?

 

3) Finally, I am concerned that my ISP can use my DNS queries to know which websites I am visiting. How do I prevent that from happening?

 

Thanks for the help!

 

[victorab 12]

Hello,

 

I just started using AirVPN. I am very confused about the issue of DNS leaks and Linux. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find explanations in this forum; just the assertion that "DNS leaks don't happen on Linux". So...

 

1) When I go to dnsleak.com or dnsleaktest.com I get a warning that my DNS might be leaking. What does this warning mean for someone running Ubuntu 17.04?

 

2) If DNS leaks don't happen on Linux, what is this post about?:

 

https://airvpn.org/topic/22715-leaking-dns-with-ubuntu-1704/

 

What is the problem that that fix is fixing?

 

3) Finally, I am concerned that my ISP can use my DNS queries to know which websites I am visiting. How do I prevent that from happening?

 

Thanks for the help!

Hello,

1) Go to ipleak.net while connected to AirVPN and check if you see your ISP/country. If so, your ISP DNS is used instead of AIRVPN ones. This means that your ISP ""might"" know what websites you are visiting

2) For AirVPN staff, it's not a DNS leak. A DNS leak is (for them) when while your DNS parameters are set to a specific DNS but another DNS provider is used. It's mainly the case for Windows because Windows do not handle a specific DNS and in some circumstances it will still use the defaults DNS parameters instead of the one set by the user.

Here, the DNS are set BUT Ubuntu is overwritting them, the case is different. Is this happens to you, follow the instructions

3), You can prevent this from happening by using another DNS (AirVPN DNS for example) than the default ones

[dcarrera 0]

Hello victorab,

 

Thanks for the help. Some of this is beginning to make sense to me. Below are my replies:

 

Hello,

1) Go to ipleak.net while connected to AirVPN and check if you see your ISP/country. If so, your ISP DNS is used instead of AIRVPN ones. This means that your ISP ""might"" know what websites you are visiting

2) For AirVPN staff, it's not a DNS leak. A DNS leak is (for them) when while your DNS parameters are set to a specific DNS but another DNS provider is used. It's mainly the case for Windows because Windows do not handle a specific DNS and in some circumstances it will still use the defaults DNS parameters instead of the one set by the user.

Here, the DNS are set BUT Ubuntu is overwritting them, the case is different. Is this happens to you, follow the instructions

3), You can prevent this from happening by using another DNS (AirVPN DNS for example) than the default ones

 

1) On ipleak.net I see 56 DNS addresses. All of them are in my country except for one which is the VPN server that I'm using, which is in a different country. They seem to belong to Google (I didn't check them all). Does this mean that Google is my DNS server?

 

2) Thanks for explaining. I did the fix, and /etc/resolv.conf says that it was written by Eddie / airvpn.org, so that sounds good.

# Automatically generated by Eddie v2.12.4 | https://airvpn.org . Any manual change will be overridden.

nameserver 10.4.0.1

 

3) Thanks. That sounds like what I want to do. How do I get my computer to stick to the AirVPN DNS? I am not very good at networking, but normally you put the DNS server in /etc/resolv.conf and it is clear that AirVPN is in control of that file. So I don't know what else I'm supposed to do. I don't need to reboot, do I?

 

Thanks again for the help.

[dcarrera 0]

I rebooted and the problem seems to be gone.

 

Do you have any idea why a reboot would fix this?