ProtonVPN Privoxy Docker

Docker container for setting up a Privoxy proxy that pushes traffic over a ProtonVPN connection.

Build Docker image:

docker build -t walt3rl/proton-privoxy .

Run Docker container:

docker run -d \
     --device=/dev/net/tun --cap-add=NET_ADMIN \
     -v /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro \
     -p 8888:8080 \
     -e PVPN_USERNAME=my_protonvpn_openvpn_username \
     -e PVPN_PASSWORD=my_protonvpn_openvpn_password \
     --name proton-privoxy walt3rl/proton-privoxy

Or with this docker-compose.yml:

---
version: "3"
services:
  proton-privoxy:
    image: walt3rl/proton-privoxy
    container_name: proton-privoxy
    environment:
      - PVPN_USERNAME=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
      - PVPN_PASSWORD=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    volumes:
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
    ports:
      - 8888:8080
    restart: unless-stopped
    devices:
      - /dev/net/tun
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN

This will start a Docker container that

1. initializes a protonvpn CLI configuration
2. refreshes ProtonVPN server data (connects to https://api.protonvpn.ch)
3. sets up an OpenVPN connection to ProtonVPN with your ProtonVPN account details, and
4. starts a Privoxy server, accessible at http://127.0.0.1:8888, that directs traffic over your VPN connection.

Test:

curl --proxy http://127.0.0.1:8888 https://ipinfo.io/ip

Features

Multiple VPN connections on the same machine

While not impossible, it is quite the networking feat to route traffic over specific VPN connections. With this Docker image you can run multiple containers, each setting up a different VPN connection which doesn't affect your host's networking. Routing traffic over a specific VPN connection is then as simple as configuring a target application's proxy server.

Share a VPN connection between devices on your LAN

Run a container on one machine, and configure multiple devices on your network to connect to its proxy server. All connections that use that proxy server will be routed over the same VPN connection.

Free privacy filtering, courtesy of Privoxy

Why did I choose Privoxy? Mostly because it's the simplest HTTP proxy to configure, that I've used before.

~[Anti-feature] ProtonVPN's DNS leak protection doesn't work~

UPDATE: This is no longer an issue, because Docker now allows /etc/resolv.conf to be updated while a container is running. It's recreated by Docker on container restart, but that doesn't matter, since ProtonVPN (and DNS_SERVERS_OVERRIDE) will modify it during startup.

~Docker prevents containers from changing the servers used for DNS lookups, after startup. This prevents ProtonVPN from using its own leak protecting DNS server. In fact, at the moment it causes a non-fatal error in protonvpn.~

~Ensure that you're using privacy respecting DNS servers on your Docker host, or manually specify secure servers for the container via --dns options.~

Configuration

You can set any of the following container environment variables with docker run's -e options.

PVPN_USERNAME and PVPN_PASSWORD

Required. This is your ProtonVPN OpenVPN username and password. It's the username and password you would normally provide to protonvpn init.

If you're using Docker Secrets, you can use PVPN_USERNAME_FILE and PVPN_PASSWORD_FILE instead.

PVPN_TIER

Your ProtonVPN account tier, called "your ProtonVPN Plan" in protonvpn init. The value must be the number corresponding to your tier from the following list (from protonvpn init):

0) Free
1) Basic
2) Plus
3) Visionary

Default: 2

PVPN_PROTOCOL

The protocol that the OpenVPN tunnel will use. Corresponds to the -p flag of the protonvpn CLI tool, and the "default OpenVPN protocol" prompt in the protonvpn init process.

Default: udp

PVPN_CMD_ARGS

Any arguments you want to pass to protonvpn. For example, if you want protonvpn to connect to a random server, set this to "connect --random". Remember the quotes.

See the protonvpn docs for supported commands and arguments.

Default: "connect --fastest" (Select the fastest ProtonVPN server.)

PVPN_DEBUG

Set to 1 to log debugging details from protonvpn to the container's stdout.

Default: empty (debug logging disabled)

HOST_NETWORK

If you want to expose your proxy server to your local network, you need to specify that network in HOST_NETWORK, so that it can be routed back through your Docker network. E.g. if your LAN uses the 10.0.0.0/8 network, add -e HOST_NETWORK=10.0.0.0/8 to your docker run command.

Default: empty (no network is routed)

DNS_SERVERS_OVERRIDE

Comma-separated list of DNS servers to use, overriding whatever was set by ProtonVPN. For example, to use Quad9 DNS servers, set DNS_SERVERS_OVERRIDE=9.9.9.9,149.112.112.112.

Default: empty (ProtonVPN's DNS server is used)