SOCKS Proxy Over SSH

To test some of Toph’s IP-based access control features, I needed to access it from a few different IP addresses than mine.

I thought I finally needed to get one of those VPN subscriptions YouTube content creators keep rambling about.

Fortunately, I remembered an easier way to do this.

You see, it is possible to run a SOCKS proxy that tunnels your connection over SSH. And it is built right into the ssh command:

ssh -D 9050 user@hostname

This command will create an SSH connection to the remote server identified by hostname and log in as user. At the same time, it will open port 9050 on localhost, which will be a SOCKS proxy.

I was able to access Toph from different IP addresses by using the servers that I already own.

You can test it out quickly with curl:

curl --proxy socks5://localhost:9050 https://ifconfig.me

It should output the IP address of the server you have connected to over SSH.

This post is 80th of my #100DaysToOffload challenge. Want to get involved? Find out more at 100daystooffload.com.