ANSWERED VPN over TOR not working

[g12amro36eg96q 0]

Hi,

 

Running Mac OS X 10.8.4, I have managed to install and get all kinds of combinations to work with AirVPN's Virginis server - UDP, TCP and even SSH and SSL, across various ports and what-not. Running TOR over VPN works fine too. However, the one big roadblock I've hit is running VPN over TOR via the SOCKS proxy. I've tried it with Tunnelblick and Viscosity, without luck, and despite trying all sorts of workarounds.

 

The problem is this: The VPN will connect to the TOR proxy, and all will appear well. But there is simply no through-connection to the Internet. Pinging doesn't work. Browsers hang. After a while, the connection times out, the VPN client disconnects, and tries again.

 

Some log files to illustrate:

 

Viscosity's log looks like this
=====
Aug 28 21:45:13: Viscosity Mac 1.4.4 (1138)
Aug 28 21:45:13: Viscosity OpenVPN Engine Started
Aug 28 21:45:13: Running on Mac OS X 10.8.4
Aug 28 21:45:13: ---------
Aug 28 21:45:13: Checking reachability status of connection...
Aug 28 21:45:13: Connection is reachable. Starting connection attempt.
Aug 28 21:45:15: OpenVPN 2.3.2 i386-apple-darwin [sSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [PKCS11] [MH] [iPv6] built on Jun  7 2013
Aug 28 21:45:14: Attempting to establish TCP connection with [AF_INET]127.0.0.1:9150 [nonblock]
Aug 28 21:45:17: TCP connection established with [AF_INET]127.0.0.1:9150
Aug 28 21:45:18: TCPv4_CLIENT link local: [undef]
Aug 28 21:45:18: TCPv4_CLIENT link remote: [AF_INET]127.0.0.1:9150
Aug 28 21:45:35: [server] Peer Connection Initiated with [AF_INET]127.0.0.1:9150
Aug 28 21:45:38: TUN/TAP device /dev/tun0 opened
Aug 28 21:45:38: do_ifconfig, tt->ipv6=0, tt->did_ifconfig_ipv6_setup=0
Aug 28 21:45:38: /sbin/ifconfig tun0 delete
Aug 28 21:45:38: NOTE: Tried to delete pre-existing tun/tap instance -- No Problem if failure
Aug 28 21:45:38: /sbin/ifconfig tun0 10.5.8.118 10.5.8.117 mtu 1500 netmask 255.255.255.255 up
Aug 28 21:45:38: Initialization Sequence Completed
Aug 28 21:46:39: [server] Inactivity timeout (--ping-restart), restarting
Aug 28 21:46:39: SIGUSR1[soft,ping-restart] received, process restarting
Aug 28 21:46:40: Attempting to establish TCP connection with [AF_INET]127.0.0.1:9150 [nonblock]
Aug 28 21:46:41: TCP connection established with [AF_INET]127.0.0.1:9150
Aug 28 21:46:44: TCPv4_CLIENT link local: [undef]
Aug 28 21:46:44: TCPv4_CLIENT link remote: [AF_INET]127.0.0.1:9150
... ad infinitum
=====
 

Using Network Utility to ping Yahoo.com during this time leads to nothing. It picks up as soon as the above connection times out. Trying to get to a website using Google Chrome just leads to a "Resolving host" message and then the "This webpage is not available" message.
======
Ping has started…

ping: cannot resolve yahoo.com: Unknown host
======

 

Tor configuration file looks like this:
======
# If non-zero, try to write to disk less frequently than we would otherwise.
AvoidDiskWrites 1
# Store working data, state, keys, and caches here.
DataDirectory ../../Contents/Resources/Data/Tor
GeoIPFile ../../Contents/Resources/Data/Tor/geoip
# Where to send logging messages.  Format is minSeverity[-maxSeverity]
# (stderr|stdout|syslog|file FILENAME).
Log notice stdout
# Bind to this address to listen to connections from SOCKS-speaking
# applications.
SocksListenAddress 127.0.0.1
SocksPort 9150
ControlPort 9151
=====

 

And finally, the config file of the connection as exported by Viscosity (minus the certs & keys):
============
#-- Config Auto Generated By Viscosity --#

#viscosity startonopen false
#viscosity dhcp true
#viscosity dnssupport true
#viscosity name TOR-AirVPN_CH-Virginis_TCP-443
remote 46.19.137.114 443 tcp-client
pull
comp-lzo adaptive
ns-cert-type server
ca ca.crt
redirect-gateway def1
nobind
cert cert.crt
tls-client
dev tun
key key.key
socks-proxy 127.0.0.1 9150
cipher AES-256-CBC
resolv-retry infinite
============

 

I've seen this problem raised on the main TOR thread but not resolved, so hoping somebody can figure this out.

 

Thanks!
 

[Staff 9973]

Hello!

We're sorry, it's not possible to connect properly OpenVPN over any proxy with Tunnelblick or Viscosity.

 

Kind regards

[g12amro36eg96q 0]

I don't give up that easily:-)

 

1. If it isn't possible to connect OpenVPN to a proxy with Tunnelblick or Viscosity for OS X, is it possible via the command line in OS X? (If so, any hint as to which command arguments apply?)

2. Is this possible in Windows or Linux, perhaps with the AirVPN client? I have Parallels and Bootcamp, so can go that route if you think it will work.

 

Thanks

 

 

[Staff 9973]

Hello!

 

1. Yes. Please use OpenVPN directly. We have prepared an OpenVPN executable compiled from the original source code (tested on Mountain Lion). Please see here:

https://airvpn.org/topic/9325-development-of-os-x-airvpn-client

 

2. Yes!

 

Kind regards

[g12amro36eg96q 0]

Number 1 doesn't work for me. I run into the same DNS problems as before, even after the workaround with networksetup.

 

Will now try number 2.

[g12amro36eg96q 0]

Using the AirVPN Client and Tor Browser Bundle on Windows 7 Enterprise Edition (32bit) via Parallels for Desktop on Mac for OS X 10.8.4, I was indeed able to connect first to Tor and then over Tor to AirVPN servers. Confirmed by checking IP addresses with the default install of Chrome. Yay.