Before reading further, make sure you try to set up transparent proxying using IP routing. It is conceptually easier to understand, cleaner, and more portable.
Using this method is very tricky and
detail-dependant: depending on whether the target server and
sslh are on the same machine, different machines, or
different dockers, and tool versions, all seem to change the
required network configuration somewhat. If it doesn't work,
it's almost certain that the problem is not linked to sslh
but to the network setup that surrounds it. If in trouble,
it might be worth trying to set up the network rules
with a simpler server than sslh
, such as
socat
Users have tried to do at least the following:
sslh
and the target servers run on the same host (see below)sslh
runs on a host, and the target servers run on LXC or dockers running on the same host. No known working setup.sslh
runs on a host, and the target servers run on different hosts on the same local network(see below)sslh
runs on a host, and the target servers run on a different host on a different network (there is a usecase for this). No known working setup, and it's unclear it is possible.
sslh
needs extended rights to perform this: you'll need to
give it CAP_NET_RAW
capabilities (see appropriate chapter)
or run it as root (but don't do that).
The firewalling tables also need to be adjusted as follows.
I don't think it is possible to have httpd
and sslh
both listen to 443 in
this scheme -- let me know if you manage that:
# Set route_localnet = 1 on all interfaces so that ssl can use "localhost" as destination
sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.default.route_localnet=1
sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.all.route_localnet=1
# DROP martian packets as they would have been if route_localnet was zero
# Note: packets not leaving the server aren't affected by this, thus sslh will still work
iptables -t raw -A PREROUTING ! -i lo -d 127.0.0.0/8 -j DROP
iptables -t mangle -A POSTROUTING ! -o lo -s 127.0.0.0/8 -j DROP
# Mark all connections made by ssl for special treatment (here sslh is run as user "sslh")
iptables -t nat -A OUTPUT -m owner --uid-owner sslh -p tcp --tcp-flags FIN,SYN,RST,ACK SYN -j CONNMARK --set-xmark 0x01/0x0f
# Outgoing packets that should go to sslh instead have to be rerouted, so mark them accordingly (copying over the connection mark)
iptables -t mangle -A OUTPUT ! -o lo -p tcp -m connmark --mark 0x01/0x0f -j CONNMARK --restore-mark --mask 0x0f
# Configure routing for those marked packets
ip rule add fwmark 0x1 lookup 100
ip route add local 0.0.0.0/0 dev lo table 100
Transparent proxying with IPv6 is similarly set up as follows:
# Set route_localnet = 1 on all interfaces so that ssl can use "localhost" as destination
# Not sure if this is needed for ipv6 though
sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.default.route_localnet=1
sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.all.route_localnet=1
# DROP martian packets as they would have been if route_localnet was zero
# Note: packets not leaving the server aren't affected by this, thus sslh will still work
ip6tables -t raw -A PREROUTING ! -i lo -d ::1/128 -j DROP
ip6tables -t mangle -A POSTROUTING ! -o lo -s ::1/128 -j DROP
# Mark all connections made by ssl for special treatment (here sslh is run as user "sslh")
ip6tables -t nat -A OUTPUT -m owner --uid-owner sslh -p tcp --tcp-flags FIN,SYN,RST,ACK SYN -j CONNMARK --set-xmark 0x01/0x0f
# Outgoing packets that should go to sslh instead have to be rerouted, so mark them accordingly (copying over the connection mark)
ip6tables -t mangle -A OUTPUT ! -o lo -p tcp -m connmark --mark 0x01/0x0f -j CONNMARK --restore-mark --mask 0x0f
# Configure routing for those marked packets
ip -6 rule add fwmark 0x1 lookup 100
ip -6 route add local ::/0 dev lo table 100
Explanation:
To be able to use localhost
as destination in your sslh config along with transparent proxying
you have to allow routing of loopback addresses as done above.
This is something you usually should not do (see this stackoverflow post)
The two DROP
iptables rules emulate the behaviour of route_localnet
set to off (with one small difference:
allowing the reroute-check to happen after the fwmark is set on packets destined for sslh).
See this diagram for a good visualisation
showing how packets will traverse the iptables chains.
Note:
You have to run sslh
as dedicated user (in this example the user is also named sslh
), to not mess up with your normal networking.
These rules will allow you to connect directly to ssh on port
22 (or to any other service behind sslh) as well as through sslh on port 443.
Also remember that iptables configuration and ip routes and
rules won't be necessarily persisted after you reboot. Make
sure to save them properly. For example in CentOS7, you would
do iptables-save > /etc/sysconfig/iptables
, and add both
ip
commands to your /etc/rc.local
.
Given you have no firewall defined yet, you can use the following configuration to have ipfw properly redirect traffic back to sslh
/etc/rc.conf
firewall_enable="YES"
firewall_type="open"
firewall_logif="YES"
firewall_coscripts="/etc/ipfw/sslh.rules"
/etc/ipfw/sslh.rules
#! /bin/sh
# ssl
ipfw add 20000 fwd 192.0.2.1,443 log tcp from 192.0.2.1 8443 to any out
ipfw add 20010 fwd 2001:db8::1,443 log tcp from 2001:db8::1 8443 to any out
# ssh
ipfw add 20100 fwd 192.0.2.1,443 log tcp from 192.0.2.1 8022 to any out
ipfw add 20110 fwd 2001:db8::1,443 log tcp from 2001:db8::1 8022 to any out
# xmpp
ipfw add 20200 fwd 192.0.2.1,443 log tcp from 192.0.2.1 5222 to any out
ipfw add 20210 fwd 2001:db8::1,443 log tcp from 2001:db8::1 5222 to any out
# openvpn (running on other internal system)
ipfw add 20300 fwd 192.0.2.1,443 log tcp from 198.51.100.7 1194 to any out
ipfw add 20310 fwd 2001:db8::1,443 log tcp from 2001:db8:1::7 1194 to any out
General notes:
This will only work if sslh
does not use any loopback
addresses (no 127.0.0.1
or localhost
), you'll need to use
explicit IP addresses (or names):
sslh --listen 192.168.0.1:443 --ssh 192.168.0.1:22 --tls 192.168.0.1:4443
This will not work:
sslh --listen 192.168.0.1:443 --ssh 127.0.0.1:22 --tls 127.0.0.1:4443
Transparent proxying means the target server sees the real
origin address, so it means if the client connects using
IPv6, the server must also support IPv6. It is easy to
support both IPv4 and IPv6 by configuring the server
accordingly, and setting sslh
to connect to a name that
resolves to both IPv4 and IPv6, e.g.:
sslh --transparent --listen <extaddr>:443 --ssh insideaddr:22
/etc/hosts:
192.168.0.1 insideaddr
201::::2 insideaddr
Upon incoming IPv6 connection, sslh
will first try to
connect to the IPv4 address (which will fail), then connect
to the IPv6 address.
Tutorial by Sean Warner. 19 June 2019 20:35
- Show that
sslh
can transparently proxy requests from the internet to services on two separate hosts that are both on the same LAN. - The IP address of the client initiating the request is what the destination should see… and not the IP address of the host that
sslh
is running on, which is what happens whensslh
is not running in transparent mode. - The solution here only works for my very specific use-case but hopefully others can adapt it to suits their needs.
Two Raspberry Pis on my home LAN:
- Pi A: 192.168.1.124 –
sslh
(Port 4433), Apache2 web server for https (port 443),stunnel
(port 4480) to decrypt ssh traffic and forward to SSH server (also on Pi A at Port 1022) - Pi B: 192.168.1.123 - HTTP server (port 8000), SSH server (port 1022 on PiB).
- I send traffic from the internet to my router's external port 443 then use a port forward rule in my router to map that to internal port 4433 where sslh is listening.
sslh
Version: sslh v1.19c-2-gf451cc8-dirty.
I compiled sslh from sources giving the binary pretty much all possible options such as Posix capabilities and systemd support.. here are the first few lines of the makefile:
# Configuration
VERSION=$(shell ./genver.sh -r)
ENABLE_REGEX=1 # Enable regex probes
USELIBCONFIG=1 # Use libconfig? (necessary to use configuration files)
USELIBPCRE=1 # Use libpcre? (needed for regex on musl)
USELIBWRAP=1 # Use libwrap?
USELIBCAP=1 # Use libcap?
USESYSTEMD=1 # Make use of systemd socket activation
COV_TEST= # Perform test coverage?
PREFIX=/usr/local
BINDIR=$(PREFIX)/sbin
MANDIR=$(PREFIX)/share/man/man8
MAN=sslh.8.gz # man page name
# End of configuration -- the rest should take care of
# itself
Create an sslh systemd service file...
# nano /lib/systemd/system/sslh.service
Paste in this contents…
[Unit]
Description=SSL/SSH multiplexer
After=network.target
Documentation=man:sslh(8)
[Service]
#EnvironmentFile=/etc/default/sslh
#ExecStart=/usr/local/sbin/sslh $DAEMON_OPTS
ExecStart=/usr/local/sbin/sslh -F /etc/sslh/sslh.cfg
KillMode=process
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Save it and then…
# systemctl daemon-reload
Start it again to test…
# systemctl start sslh
First stop sslh
then open the config file and replace with below, save and start sslh
again
# systemctl stop sslh
# nano /etc/sslh/sslh.cfg
# systemctl start sslh
verbose: true;
foreground: true;
inetd: false;
numeric: true;
transparent: true;
timeout: 2;
user: "sslh";
pidfile: "/var/run/sslh.pid";
chroot: "/var/empty";
# You must have a port forward rule in the router: external port 443 <-> internal port 4433
# Local ip address of PiA is: 192.168.1.124, sslh and stunnel4 are running on this Pi
# Local ip address of PiB is: 192.168.1.123, http server and ssh server on this Pi
listen:
(
{ host: "192.168.1.124"; port: "4433"; }
);
# sslh demultiplexes based on the Protocol and Hostname
protocols:
(
{ name: "tls"; sni_hostnames: [ "www.example.com" ]; host: "192.168.1.124"; port: "443"; log_level: 1; },
# This probe is for tls encrypted ssh. SSLH forwards it to stunnel on port 4480 which decrypts it and sends it to the ssh server on PiA port 1022
{ name: "tls"; sni_hostnames: [ "ssh.example.com" ]; host: "192.168.1.124"; port: "4480"; log_level: 1; },
{ name: "http"; host: "192.168.1.123"; port: "8000"; log_level: 1; },
{ name: "ssh"; host: "192.168.1.123"; port: "1022"; log_level: 1; }
);
First stop stunnel
then open the config file and replace with below, save and start stunnel
again
# systemctl stop stunnel4
# nano /etc/stunnel/stunnel.conf
# systemctl start stunnel4
# Debugging stuff (may be useful for troubleshooting)
foreground = yes
#debug = 5 # this is the default
debug = 7
output = /var/log/stunnel4/stunnel.log
pid = /var/run/stunnel4/stunnel.pid
fips = no
cert = /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem
key = /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem
[ssh]
accept = 192.168.1.124:4480
connect = 192.168.1.124:1022
TIMEOUTclose = 0
The _add.sh
script creates the rules, the _rm.sh
script removes the rules.
They will be lost if you reboot but there are ways to make them load again on start-up..
# nano /usr/local/sbin/piA_tproxy_add.sh
iptables -t mangle -N SSLH
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -p tcp -m socket --transparent -j SSLH
iptables -t mangle -A OUTPUT --protocol tcp --out-interface eth0 -m multiport --sport 443,4480 --jump SSLH
iptables -t mangle -A SSLH --jump MARK --set-mark 0x1
iptables -t mangle -A SSLH --jump ACCEPT
ip rule add fwmark 0x1 lookup 100
ip route add local 0.0.0.0/0 dev lo table 100
# nano /usr/local/sbin/piA_tproxy_rm.sh
iptables -t mangle -D PREROUTING -p tcp -m socket --transparent -j SSLH
iptables -t mangle -D OUTPUT --protocol tcp --out-interface eth0 -m multiport --sport 443,4480 --jump SSLH
iptables -t mangle -D SSLH --jump MARK --set-mark 0x1
iptables -t mangle -D SSLH --jump ACCEPT
iptables -t mangle -X SSLH
ip rule del fwmark 0x1 lookup 100
ip route del local 0.0.0.0/0 dev lo table 100
Make them executable..
# chmod +rx piA_tproxy_add.sh
# chmod +rx piA_tproxy_rm.sh
Now run the "add" script on Pi A!
# piA_tproxy_add.sh
# piA_tproxy_rm.sh
# nano /usr/local/sbin/piB_tproxy_add.sh
iptables -t mangle -N SSLHSSL
iptables -t mangle -A OUTPUT -o eth0 -p tcp -m multiport --sport 1022,8000 -j SSLHSSL
iptables -t mangle -A SSLHSSL --jump MARK --set-mark 0x1
iptables -t mangle -A SSLHSSL --jump ACCEPT
ip rule add fwmark 0x1 lookup 100
ip route add default via 192.168.1.124 table 100
ip route flush cache
# nano /usr/local/sbin/piB_tproxy_rm.sh
iptables -t mangle -D OUTPUT -o eth0 -p tcp -m multiport --sport 1022,8000 -j SSLHSSL
iptables -t mangle -D SSLHSSL --jump MARK --set-mark 0x1
iptables -t mangle -D SSLHSSL --jump ACCEPT
iptables -t mangle -X SSLHSSL
ip rule del fwmark 0x1 lookup 100
ip route del default via 192.168.1.124 table 100
ip route flush cache
Make them executable..
# chmod +rx piB_tproxy_add.sh
# chmod +rx piB_tproxy_rm.sh
Now run the "add" script on Pi B!
# piB_tproxy_add.sh
# piB_tproxy_rm.sh
- Getting to sshd on PiA
I did this test using 4G from my phone (outside the LAN)
To simulate this I use proxytunnel
. External port 443 is forwarded by my router to 4433. I need to arrive at sslh
(port 4433) with ssh encrypted as TLS (hence I use the -e switch) and the sni_hostname
set to ssh.example.com so that sslh
will demultiplex to stunnel
(port 4480) which will decrypt and forward to ssh server on PiA… see sslh.cfg
and stunnel.conf
.
The first IP:port is just a free HTTPS proxy I found on https://free-proxy-list.net I execute this command from a terminal window..
# proxytunnel -v -e -C root.pem -p 78.141.192.198:8080 -d ssh.example.com:443
- Getting to sshd on PiB
I did this test using 4G from my phone (outside the LAN)
My smartphone telecom provider blocks ssh over port 443 so I need to use proxytunnel
to encrypt.
Use the Proxytunnel -X
switch to encrypt from local proxy to destination only so by the time we get to the destination it is unencrypted and sslh
will see the ssh protocol and demultiplex to PiB as per sslh.cfg
.
# proxytunnel -v -X -C root.pem -p 78.141.192.198:8080 -d ssh.example.com:443
Now when you test it all look at the output in daemon.log like this:
# grep -i 'ssl' /var/log/daemon.log
You should see that the IP address and port from the “connection from” and “forwarded from” fields are the same.
Special thanks and appreciation to Michael Yelsukov without whom I would never have got this working.
Any feedback or corrections very welcome!