this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2023
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I am trying to set up a reverse proxy server, with TLS passthrough.

I am behind CGNAT, so I cannot forward any ports from my home server. So, my current workaround was that I connected my home server to a VPS via WireGuard and used Nginx Proxy Manager (NPM) to proxy services running on different docker containers to the VPS, so that they are accessible publicly. But now I want to use TLS passthrough for better privacy. But I cannot find any guides for my case.

I need help with 2 issues, basically. Let's take a look at my passthrough.conf file, which I have included in nginx.conf file.

stream {
    # Listen for incoming TLS connections on service1.domain.me
    server {
        listen 443;
        proxy_pass service1.domain.me;
        proxy_ssl on;
        proxy_ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
        proxy_ssl_name $ssl_preread_server_name;
    }

    # Listen for incoming TLS connections on service2.domain.me
#    server {
#        listen 443;
#        proxy_pass service2.domain.me;
#        proxy_ssl on;
#        proxy_ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
#        proxy_ssl_name $ssl_preread_server_name;
#    }

    # Define the backend server for service1.domain.me
    upstream service1.domain.me {
        server homeserverIP:port;
    }

    # Define the backend server for service2.domain.me
#    upstream service2.domain.me {
#        server homeserverIP:port;
#    }
}

The services are running in docker containers on different ports. When I used two server blocks and two upstream blocks, I got this error while testing NGINX config: nginx: [emerg] duplicate "0.0.0.0:443" address and port pair in /etc/nginx/passthrough.conf:13. So, I commented out the other server block and tested it again. The test was successful, but NGINX failed to restart. When I checked the systemctl status I saw: nginx[2480644]: nginx: [emerg] bind() to 0.0.0.0:443 failed (98: Address already in use). This is because I am already hosting multiple WordPress sites on this VPS.

Here's my nginx.conf file:

user www-data;
worker_processes auto;
pid /run/nginx.pid;
include /etc/nginx/modules-enabled/*.conf;

events {
        worker_connections 768;
}

http {

        sendfile on;
        tcp_nopush on;
        types_hash_max_size 2048;

        include /etc/nginx/mime.types;
        default_type application/octet-stream;


        ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3; # Dropping SSLv3, ref: POODLE
        ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;

        access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log;
        error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log;

        gzip on;

        gzip_vary on;
        gzip_proxied any;
        gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript text/xml application/xml application/xml+rss text/javascript;

        include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
        include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*;

        client_max_body_size 100M;
        server_tokens off;

}

#include /etc/nginx/passthrough.conf;

I do not know much about NGINX configuration, any help or article links would help.

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[–] nutbutter@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This looks like a really great tool, but I cannot seem to find TLS pass through options in here. Or maybe I am too dumb to understand. I do not want the proxy server to generate or keep any certificates, all that will be done by my home server. All I want the proxy server to do is pass through the TCP connection.

[–] towerful@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you are forwarding to multiple services, TCP proxying isnt going to work.
The proxy server has to know where to send the connection, so it has to be protocol-aware. In this case, http/https is the protocol.

Luckily TLS/HTTPS has functionality for this without having to terminate encryption, called SNI.

Here is an article using SNI and nginx.
https://gist.github.com/kekru/c09dbab5e78bf76402966b13fa72b9d2

[–] nutbutter@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks. So, I just have to put this stream block in my nginx.conf file and everything will work? Do I still have to use reverse proxy for my existing WordPress sites? Or can they stay normally configured?

[–] towerful@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago

If they are running on the same server as nginx, then they will need to be proxied as well.
Only 1 service can bind to a port. So if the webserver doing wordpress is bound to 80/443, nginx will not be able to acquire the port.
Hence why reverse proxying. Nginx binds 80/443, then forwards to other services on arbitrary ports