WebRTC is a relatively new web communication protocol that is designed to work with JavaScript, and it might be leaking your IP address even while behind a VPN tunnel. Let’s take a closer look at what exactly WebRTC is so there is a better understanding of why we want to prevent the WebRTC IP leak and not just how to prevent it.
WebRTC, which stands for Web Real-Time Communication, is an open and free project that provides mobile applications and web-browsers with RTC (Real-Time Communications) functionality via peer-to-peer communication protocols and simple JavaScript APIs. WebRTC not only allows mobile apps and web-browsers to request resources from external servers, but also request real-time data and information from other users’ apps and browsers.
Many different web applications utilize WebRTC technology in order to not require additional software or plugins to function. A few of the software types using WebRTC are video conferencing apps, file transfer apps, chat software, as well as desktop-sharing apps. The WebRTC project is supported by Google, Mozilla, Opera, and Microsoft across all the major operating system platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android.
So, What Exactly is a WebRTC IP Leak and Why is it Bad?
Simply put – because WebRTC relies on peer-to-peer protocol connections it can reveal your true external IPv4 or IPv6 IP address to the outside world, even while tunneling through a VPN! Looks at the box below – if you see any IP addresses listed, then your browser currently has WebRTC enabled.
Even though WebRTC can be blocked via add-ons and extensions such as uBlock Origin and NoScripts, it’s generally a good idea to manually block this protocol, if possible, just to be sure.
Here’s a list of WebRTC supported Web-Browsers and how to disable WebRTC if possible:
- Desktop PC
- Google Chrome versions 28+
- Mozilla Firefox versions 22+
- Microsoft Edge versions 12+
- Safari versions 11+
- Opera versions 18+
- Vivaldi versions 1.9+
- Android
- Google Chrome versions 28+
- Mozilla Firefox versions 24+
- Opera Mobile versions 12+
- Chrome OS
- Firefox OS
- Blackberry versions 10+
- iOS versions 11+
- MobileSafari/WebKit
- Tizen versions 3.0+
Learn more at the WebRTC Wikipedia page. Thanks go to diafygi for the WebRTC Checking script.
Tom Harmon
I could not find
media.peerconnection.video.h264_enabled
all others changed.
did the leak test and it showed an ip
How do I find the above setting and change to false?
Get Fast VPN
Are you sure you have media.peerconnection.enabled set to false? That alone should disable WebRTC, the other settings are just extra precautions in case media.peerconnection.enabled gets accidentally enabled.
I too no longer have media.peerconnection.video.h264_enabled in about:config, I think it’s because Mozilla is pushing for media.peerconnection.video.enabled to be the standard default.