Secure and Private VPN Provider Mullvad discovered Android devices can leak information when connected to VPN services, which cannot be prevented.
According to Mullvad’s information, Android uses connectivity checks outside the VPN tunnel when devices connect to a wireless network. What makes it even worse is that this happens even if the security feature Block connections without VPN is enabled on the device.
Data connections that take place outside the boundaries of a VPN connection are made on purpose. Mullvad gives the example of captive portals on networks, which require that users authenticate before connectivity is available. Mullvad notes that most Android users want these checks.
Leaking information raises privacy concerns for some people. Users can assume that their connection is safe from leaks when using a VPN on Android. The entity that controls the connectivity test server and any entity that is monitoring networking traffic can receive the data. According to Mullvad, the metadata includes the source IP address and can be used to “obtain further information”; According to the company this would require a “sophisticated actor”.
Android does not include a user-facing option to disable traffic that occurs outside the VPN tunnel. Mullavad published A guide on disabling connectivity checks on Android. It requires development tools and is technical in nature.
The company reported the issue to Google, which express reaction With a “will not fix” status for the issue, stating that this is the intended behavior.
“We have looked into the feature request you reported and would like to inform you that it is working as expected. We do not think such an option would make sense to most users, so we do not think there is a strong case for introducing it.”
Google’s main argument is that other traffic is also exempted, that some VPNs may use connectivity information, and very little data is exposed during these checks. Mullvad argues that leaking of data matters to some users, and that these users should have the option to block any leaked traffic if they wish.
Android users who need complete protection against leaks have only one option: modifying the device using Mullvad’s guide to prevent these connections from happening.
now you:Do you use a VPN connection on your mobile devices?
