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iOS VPNs have been leaking for more than 2 years now

Hi Friends!!!

Do you want to know about iOS VPNs’ latest news? Well! The potential security flaw in iOS devices has existed for years. According to a security researcher, Apple has been aware of it for some time. Michael Horowitz, a longstanding writer and researcher in the field of computer security says it clearly.  He has been updating in a blog post regularly. The VPN functionality on iOS is broken, he explains.

What is A VPN? How Does it Work?

Any external VPN will first give your device a new IP address, DNS servers, and a tunnel for all your traffic, as described by Horowitz. Horowitz discovered this with sophisticated router logging: sessions and connections started before a VPN was activated do not terminate and can still send data beyond the VPN tunnel even when the VPN is running.

Put another way; you could assume that a VPN client will terminate any active connections before establishing a secure connection. A report from May 2020 corroborates Horowitz’s observation that iOS VPNs are unable to achieve this. Data “leaves the iOS device outside the VPN connection,” Horowitz says. This is a data leak, not a traditional DNS breach.

Process for Privacy Business

Proton, a privacy-focused business, had previously discovered a VPN bypass vulnerability in iOS dating back to iOS 13.3.1. ProtonVPN’s blog echoed Horowitz’s observation that, contrary to expectations, iOS does not force a VPN to delete all open connections before opening them again inside the VPN tunnel. Some links, like Apple’s push notification service, can continue working for hours after the tunnel closes.

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What is The Problem With VPNs?

The main problem with unencrypted, non-tunneled connections is that they can be observed by ISPs and other parties who have no business knowing the user’s IP address or the destination they are connecting to. People in countries with widespread monitoring and civil rights violations are the most vulnerable due to this security issue, ProtonVPN warned. Though it’s not likely to be a top priority for most VPN users, it’s still worth mentioning.

After three iOS 13, ProtonVPN found that the VPN bypass was still present. Although ProtonVPN predicted that Apple would implement a feature to disable already established connections, the change did not appear to affect Horowitz’s findings.

A Peek Inside Virtual Private Networks

Using an iPad running iOS 15.4.1 in 2022. Horowitz discovered that ProtonVPN’s app still permitted persistent, non-tunneled connections to Apple’s push service. According to Horowitz, ProtonVPN’s “Kill Switch,” designed to stop all network activity if the VPN tunnel is lost, did not prevent leaks.

A method “nearly as successful” as shutting all connections manually when starting a VPN was recommended by ProtonVPN. This involved connecting to a VPN server, activating airplane mode, and then disabling it. Although ProtonVPN would not provide 100% assurance.It was also written, “Your other connections should also rejoin inside the VPN tunnel.” Horowitz argues that this is a non-answer because of how complicated iOS’s Airplane Mode settings are.

Conclusion

Horowitz’s article lacks details about how iOS could address the problem. In addition, he doesn’t discuss virtual private networks (VPNs) that have split tunneling capabilities, preferring to highlight the promise of VPNs instead of recording all network traffic. In terms of Internet privacy and security, virtual private networks (VPNs), primarily commercial services, remain a problematic piece. 

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Choosing the “best VPN” has always been difficult. Vulnerabilities, unprotected servers, hungry data brokers, and Facebook’s ownership threaten virtual private networks (VPNs).

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