vpnns.1

.TH VPNNS 1 "January 8, 2017"
.SH NAME
vpnns \- per\-app VPN using namespaces
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBvpnns\fP [\fB\-\-name\fP=\fIidentifier\fP] \fB\-\-\fP \fIcommand\fP
.PP
\fBvpnns\fP [\fB\-\-name\fP=\fIidentifier\fP] [\fB\-\-script\fP=\fIpath\fP]
\fB\-\-attach\fP
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
\fBvpnns\fP isolates VPN\-related network traffic and
applications inside a separate network namespace.  Applications intended
to be used with the VPN cannot bypass the VPN to access the internet
directly, and applications not intended to be used with the VPN cannot
send traffic through the VPN tunnel.
.SH USAGE
.PP
This starts up an application in a fresh user/net/uts/mount namespace:
.RS
.PP
vpnns \-\- google\-chrome \-\-user\-data\-dir=/tmp/vpntest
.PP
vpnns \-\- firefox \-no\-remote \-P vpn
.PP
vpnns \-\- transmission\-gtk
.RE
.PP
Initially it will not have any network access as the only interface
present in the netns is the loopback device.  The application should still
be able to talk to Xorg through UNIX sockets in \fI/tmp\fP.
.PP
The next step is to connect to a VPN and invoke \fBvpnns \-\-attach\fP
to pass the VPN traffic back and forth:
.RS
.PP
openconnect \-\-script "vpnns \-\-attach" \-\-script\-tun vpn.example.com
.PP
openvpn \-\-script\-security 2 \-\-config example.ovpn
\-\-dev "|HOME=$HOME vpnns \-\-attach"
.RE
.PP
These commands connect to an ocserv or openvpn gateway, then tell \fBvpnns\fP
to set up a tunnel device, default route, and resolv.conf inside the
namespace created above.  On success, the web browser will have connectivity.
When the VPN disconnects, the browser will lose all connectivity, preventing
leaks.
.PP
\fBvpnns\fP can be rerun multiple times if the connection fails or if the VPN
client crashes.  If run without arguments, it will open a shell inside the
namespace.
.PP
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
\fB\-n, \-\-name\fP \fIidentifier\fP
\fBvpnns\fP is designed to allow multiple instances to coexist on the same
system.  This feature could be useful for connecting to multiple VPNs at
the same time.  \fIidentifier\fP defaults to "default" but can be overridden
through the \fB\-\-name\fP option.
.TP
\fB\-s, \-\-script\fP \fIpath\fP
Invoke the program at \fIpath\fP to set up and tear down the tunnel device's
IP configuration, instead of letting \fBvpnns\fP handle it internally.
\fB$TUNDEV\fP will be set to the device name (e.g. \fItun0\fP).
\fB$reason\fP will be set to either \fBconnect\fP or \fBdisconnect\fP.
Any IP configuration variables such as \fB$INTERNAL_IP4_ADDRESS\fP set
by the VPN client will be inherited, so it is possible for a modified
\fBvpnc\-script\fP to be used.  This option only has an effect if
\fB\-\-attach\fP is also specified.
.SH CAVEATS
.PP
\fBvpnns\fP is not a security tool.  It cannot prevent malicious applications
from bypassing the namespace restrictions.
.PP
While OpenConnect works with \fBvpnns\fP out of the box, OpenVPN currently
(as of 2017\-01\-08) requires out\-of\-tree patches to support non\-root
operation.
.PP
If \fI/etc/resolv.conf\fP is a symbolic link to a file that is regenerated
on network connection changes, the bind mount used by \fBvpnns\fP to
override the DNS configuration can be inadvertently deleted.  \fBvpnns\fP
attempts to work around this by using overlayfs to override
\fI/etc/resolv.conf\fP, but that does not work on all systems.
.PP
Some distributions patch their kernels to prevent unprivileged users from
creating namespaces, resulting in a "can't unshare namespaces: Operation not
permitted" error.  This security feature can be disabled using the following
command:
.RS
.PP
sudo sysctl \-w kernel.unprivileged_userns_clone=1
.RE
.PP
To make the change permanent, edit \fI/etc/sysctl.conf\fP.
.SH FILES
.TP
~/.vpnns\-\fIidentifier\fP
State directory for a given \fBvpnns\fP instance.  By default, \fBvpnns\fP
uses \fI~/.vpnns\-default\fP.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR ocproxy (1),
.BR openconnect (8),
.BR openvpn (8)