This plugin adds SOCKS v5 proxy server support to RaspAP.
⚠️ The SocksProxy plugin is currently in BETA. Please create an issue to report bugs or start a discussion for anything else. Thanks!
Proxy servers act as gateway that routes traffic between an end user and an internet resource. In the context of RaspAP, or network devices generally, this provides an additional layer of privacy and security. Likewise, proxies are useful for other purposes such as bypassing geo-restrictions or managing network traffic more efficiently via caching.
The SocksProxy plugin makes use of Dante, a free and open source SOCKS proxy server that implements RFC 1928 and related standards. Dante provides a great deal of flexibility and is often used in Linux for secure network connectivity. This plugin uses the dante-server Debian package. The steps to install Dante and enable the plugin are provided in the next sections.
Begin by executing the following to update your system packages, then install Dante:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install dante-server
Dante will automatically set up a systemd background service and start it after the installation. However, it ships with all of its features disabled so will gracefully quit with an error message the first time it runs. This is normal.
Next, execute visudo to safely edit RaspAP's sudoers file:
sudo visudo /etc/sudoers.d/090_raspap
Append the following to the end of this file:
www-data ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:/bin/systemctl * danted.service
www-data ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:/bin/cat /etc/danted.conf
www-data ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:/bin/cp /tmp/danted.conf /etc/danted.conf
Save and exit the file. This grants the restricted www-data user limited control over Dante's service and configuration.
RaspAP's default application path /var/www/html is used here. If you've chosen a different install location, substitute this in the steps below:
- Change to your RaspAP install location and create a
/pluginsdirectory.cd /var/www/html sudo mkdir plugins - Change to the
/pluginsdirectory and clone theSocksProxyrepository:cd plugins sudo git clone https://github.com/billz/SocksProxy - The PluginManager will autoload the plugin. A new 'Socks Proxy' item will appear in the sidebar.
A streamlined Dante configuration is provided to get the server up and running. Change to the new plugin directory and move this file to its destination. Note that this will overwrite the default Dante config:
cd SocksProxy
sudo cp config/danted.conf /etc/danted.conf
For better security, create a dedicated user to authenticate with Dante that doesn't have login privileges:
sudo useradd -r -s /bin/false danteuser
sudo passwd danteuser
The passwd command will prompt you for a new password. In the usage example below sockspass is used, however you should choose your own secure password.
Restart the Dante service from the Socks Proxy plugin UI. This will apply the basic Dante configuration and should start up a functional SOCKS proxy server. Confirm this by checking the service output on the Status tab. In the example output below, danted.service indicates that its current state is "active (running)":
● danted.service - SOCKS (v4 and v5) proxy daemon (danted)
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/danted.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (running)
With the Dante server running, you may now perform a basic connection test on your local machine. Substitute danteuser and sockspass for the values you used in the previous step:
curl -v -x socks5://danteuser:[email protected]:1080 http://github.com/
Output:
* Trying 0.0.0.0:1080...
* Connected to 0.0.0.0 (127.0.0.1) port 1080 (#0)
* SOCKS5 connect to IPv4 140.82.121.3:80 (locally resolved)
* SOCKS5 request granted.
* Connected to 0.0.0.0 (127.0.0.1) port 1080 (#0)
> GET / HTTP/1.1
> Host: github.com
> User-Agent: curl/7.88.1
> Accept: */*
...
The credentials you used for curl should work anywhere else you might want to use your proxy server.