How to route all traffic via a local SSH SOCKS proxy on iOS

iosiphonePROXYsocks-proxyssh

Note: although iOS is technically for "cell phones" which aren't permitted on SU, this questions seems is technical and not about regular usage, that I consider it computer software.

I'd like to have the traffic of both Safari and apps routed through a remote linux server. I thought I would use the terminal app (obviously, the iDevice is jailbroken) to create a local SOCKS proxy with "ssh -D" to open a secure tunnel to the server.

How would I go about changing the global proxy settings to use the localhost proxy?

Any other ideas on achieving the same effect are most welcome.

Best Answer

This would be purely theory since I've never tried it myself but what about setting up a proxy auto-config (.pac) file for iOS that you have stored on your local filesystem. And then you can reference that file through the Settings on your iOS.

I dug up this old link which details how to do it if the .pac file is stored on a shared location on the network but it could easily be modified to point to a local file.

http://snipplr.com/view/16563/how-to-connect-to-a-socks-proxy-from-an-unjailbroken-iphoneipod-touch/

Related Solutions

Mac OS X – How to Route Some Traffic Over SSH SOCKS Proxy

Quoting from the author's website:

Transparent proxy server that works as a poor man's VPN. Forwards over ssh. Doesn't require admin. Works with Linux and MacOS.

https://github.com/sshuttle/sshuttle

I'm not yet sure how to make only certain applications traverse the vpn yet besides that it fits your needs just right. You can specify the route in the start parameter so only certain destinations are tunneled.

You don't need to touch your application in any way so disable any socks setting that you might have.

HTTP Proxy Over SSH – Not SOCKS

Method 1: Use a HTTP proxy that supports using a SOCKS upstream, e.g. Polipo or Privoxy.

First establish a -D tunnel over SSH like always, then configure the HTTP proxy to use the SSH tunnel – example Polipo configuration:

proxyAddress = "::1"
proxyPort = 8118
socksParentProxy = "localhost:8080"
socksProxyType = socks5

Finally, point the app to Polipo using http_proxy=localhost:8118.

Method 2: Run your program inside the torsocks wrapper (or the older tsocks), which proxies all connections transparently. It was meant for use with Tor, but works with any SOCKS server, including ssh -D.

Method 3: Set up a HTTP proxy on your server, then use ssh -L to access it.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Mac OS X – How to Route Some Traffic Over SSH SOCKS Proxy

HTTP Proxy Over SSH – Not SOCKS

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