Valve servers blocked AirVPN

[marsuniverse 0]

I noticed this started a month ago when connecting to Valve's servers with an AirVPN server results in a dropped connection. Previously it was possible to run AirVPN on a router and play games on Steam. However, nowadays whilst finding a match with the game coordinator still works it'll disconnect the player and impose a penalty despite accepting the match. Attempts at a workaround by changing servers to different regions, changing DNS servers, OpenVPN and Wireguard protocols, different network interface and devices results in the same dropped connection. It seems like Valve's gaming servers are currently blocking AirVPN.

[marsuniverse 0]

My suggestion solution:
Add the company's IP address CIDR ranges to the routing table to exclude traffic destined for these IPs from the VPN tunnel. This allows access to gaming servers while routing other traffic through the VPN. Although server address changes are possible, I consider them unlikely and rare given IPv4 scarcity, therefore this solution remains viable for balancing functionality and security. However, please take care to examine the privacy and security implications for your setup.

The list of IPs for easy copypasta is as follows:

103.10.124.0/24
103.10.125.0/24
103.28.54.0/24
146.66.152.0/24
146.66.155.0/24
155.133.226.0/24
155.133.227.0/24
155.133.230.0/24
155.133.232.0/24
155.133.233.0/24

Alternatively, a more concise list is provided below:

103.10.124.0/23
103.28.54.0/24
146.66.152.0/24
146.66.155.0/24
155.133.226.0/23
155.133.230.0/24
155.133.232.0/23

Hopefully this helps anyone who encounters a similar issue.

[marsuniverse 0]

Also please note that this list isn't comprehensive given that the address ranges for regions such as China wasn't specified. My reasoning for this is players would need to be aware of PerfectWorld and China's mass adoption of IPv6, and solutions for those affected users requires a different approach given the Steam client and services networking when handling traffic destined for those regions.

[marsuniverse 0]

Update: Route exceptions work with OpenVPN but fails with Wireguard on the Eddie client for Windows v2.23.1.
I've checked multiple times and server ping works flawlessly with OpenVPN, whereas Wireguard continues to block.

[Staff 9972]

On 8/15/2023 at 7:03 AM, marsuniverse said:

Update: Route exceptions work with OpenVPN but fails with Wireguard on the Eddie client for Windows v2.23.1.
I've checked multiple times and server ping works flawlessly with OpenVPN, whereas Wireguard continues to block.

Thank you very much for the report, can you please, when you have time, report this bug on the main Eddie 2.23.1 beta thread on the "News" forum? We're trying to gather all bug reports in one place, as we might be unable to read every single message of all the community forums. The thread is the following one:
https://airvpn.org/forums/topic/56428-eddie-desktop-223-beta-released/

Kind regards