To this, Mullvad pointed out that the party controlling the connectivity check server will have access to the traffic. The engineer also provided reasons for the feature’s functionality and questioned what the specific privacy impact would be. Privacy Impact of Android’s Connectivity Check Traffic Leak We do not think such an option would be understandable by most users, so we don’t think there is a strong case for offering this,” the Google engineer said. “We have looked into the feature request you have reported and would like to inform you that this is working as intended. However, a Google engineer said the feature was functioning normally and that Google does not plan on changing it. In an attempt to resolve the issue, the provider has raised a feature request with Google’s Issue Tracker. Mullvad VPN made the discovery while conducting a security audit which has not been published yet. Mullvad found that these devices leak connectivity check traffic even if the “Always-on VPN” feature is on. Android devices run connectivity checks when connecting to Wifi networks, which forces some traffic to travel outside a VPN tunnel.
The issue stems from a design choice built into the Android operating system. Android Urged to Disable Connectivity Checks In that instance, the researcher ran his experiment using ProtonVPN and OVPN. In August, a researcher found that certain iOS devices leaked traffic outside of the VPN tunnel to communicate with Apple services such as FaceTime and Game Center. News of devices leaking VPN traffic is not just an Android problem. On a similar note, Mullvad VPN has asked Google to make certain changes to prevent devices from leaking data when the “Block connections without VPN” setting is turned on.
It has written to Google urging it to provide a more accurate description of the feature. However, Mullvad said this is untrue, and users are not aware. Mullvad said the devices leak traffic even when features like “Always-on VPN” are turned on.Īndroid devices offer a setting called “Block connections without VPN,” which blocks any network traffic that does not flow through a VPN tunnel. Swedish VPN provider Mullvad VPN has found that Android leaks certain information outside a VPN tunnel, such as IP addresses, DNS lookups, and HTTPS traffic, every time a device connects to a WiFi network.
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