RobOS VPN Sandbox

Launch any desktop or CLI app inside an isolated Linux network namespace (ip netns) routed exclusively through OpenVPN with a 3-barrier kernel kill-switch.

packages/vpn-sandbox

RobOS VPN Sandbox (packages/vpn-sandbox, window title VPN App Launcher) launches individual desktop or CLI applications (such as Firefox, Transmission, or curl) inside a dedicated Linux network namespace (ip netns) bound to your OpenVPN provider so that the application’s traffic can only exit through the VPN tunnel (tun0) and your normal public IP is completely unreachable.

RobOS VPN Sandbox Live Kill-Switch Proof

Requirements

  • Linux with iproute2 (ip netns), iptables / ip6tables, openvpn, and util-linux (setpriv).
  • At least one OpenVPN account configured in RobOS VPN Servers or RobOS Preferences.
  • On first launch of a sandboxed app, GNOME Polkit (pkexec) prompts once to install /etc/sudoers.d/robos-vpn-sandbox so the sandbox engine can create and tear down isolated network namespaces without repeated prompts.

Use it

  1. Choose VPN Account & Server Location. Pick your account (IPVanish, ProtonVPN, Mullvad, NordVPN, or custom .ovpn) and server location (3,598 built-in IPVanish servers) in the top selector bar. The header displays Your Normal IP (your real external public IPv4 address outside the VPN) so you can always contrast it against the app’s VPN exit IP.
  2. Test VPN Connection or Prove Kill-Switch.
    • Test VPN Connection runs a 6-point Zero-Leak Audit against the selected account and server profile.
    • Prove Kill-Switch runs a live 5-step fault-injection proof in the Linux kernel: it starts an isolated namespace and OpenVPN tunnel, verifies the external VPN IP from inside the namespace as an unprivileged user (uid 1000), force-kills the OpenVPN daemon (kill -9) mid-flight while keeping the namespace and veth default route up, attempts 4 egress probes (HTTPS, direct TCP 1.1.1.1:80, direct UDP 8.8.8.8:53, and direct UDP to the VPN server IP as uid 1000), and confirms via kernel iptables -L OUTPUT -v -n -x counters that 100% of post-drop packets are dropped with 0 bytes leaked to your normal IP.
  3. Launch a Saved App or Any Executable.
    • Saved Apps: If transmission-gtk is installed (for example via RobOS Software Center), a default Transmission profile is pre-populated automatically alongside a Web Browser profile.
    • Launch Another App: Pick any installed desktop application from the dropdown, browse for a binary, or type a command (e.g., firefox, transmission-gtk) and optional arguments, then click Launch via VPN (or Save to List).
    • For browsers like Firefox (including Ubuntu Snap Firefox) and Chromium/Chrome, the engine automatically isolates the browser profile (~/.config/robos/vpn-browser-profiles/<browser>), passes --no-remote --new-instance, and wraps execution in dbus-run-session so the browser never hands off windows to an existing non-VPN desktop process.
  4. Manage Running VPN Apps.
    • Each card in Running VPN Apps shows the active command, VPN server, verified App Public IP (VPN), and confirmation that Your Normal IP is blocked for that app.
    • Click Check VPN Traffic to re-verify the tunnel, Stop to terminate the process and tear down its robos_vpn_<id> namespace, ✕ to remove a card from the list, Clear Stopped to prune finished sessions, or Stop All Apps in the header for an immediate emergency kill of all sandboxed apps.

3-Barrier Kernel Kill-Switch Architecture

RobOS VPN Kill-Switch Architecture Diagram

  1. Barrier 1 — In-Namespace iptables Default-DROP + UID Owner Lock: Inside robos_vpn_<id>, iptables -P OUTPUT DROP and ip6tables -P OUTPUT DROP block all traffic by default. The target app runs as your unprivileged desktop user (uid 1000) with CAP_NET_ADMIN and CAP_NET_RAW stripped (setpriv --inh-caps=-net_admin,-net_raw). Only -o tun+ is open to uid 1000; on veth_n_<id>, only uid 0 (openvpn) to <vpn_server_ip>:<vpn_port> is accepted, followed by -A OUTPUT -o veth_n_<id> -j DROP.
  2. Barrier 2 — Host Kernel FORWARD Chain (ROBOS_VPN_FWD_<id>): On the host side (veth_h_<id>), the kernel only forwards packets from 10.203.X.2/32 to <vpn_server_ip>/32:<vpn_port> and drops all other packets before NAT.
  3. Barrier 3 — Destination-Scoped Host POSTROUTING NAT: The MASQUERADE rule only matches -s 10.203.X.2/32 -d <vpn_server_ip>/32 -p udp --dport 443, so the kernel has no NAT rule to translate namespace packets to your normal public IP for any other destination.
  4. Namespace-Scoped DNS & NSS: Writes /etc/netns/robos_vpn_<id>/resolv.conf and /etc/netns/robos_vpn_<id>/nsswitch.conf (hosts: files dns) and launches OpenVPN with --dns-updown disable so sandboxed apps resolve DNS exclusively over tun0 and never touch host systemd-resolved.

Run it

Launch RobOS VPN Sandbox from the desktop or App Launcher, or run:

scripts/dev-launch.sh vpn-sandbox

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