4 ms·

I want to see someone build a proxy that uses the free iMessage or WhatsApp allowed connection to send arbitrary data. Like have a WhatsApp relay set up at hom

I want to see someone build a proxy that uses the free iMessage or WhatsApp allowed connection to send arbitrary data. Like have a WhatsApp relay set up at home that you are sending messages to and from, from the plane. Like at a most basic level, send a message of a URL to your home WhatsApp which loads the web page there, and sends the HTML back as a WhatApp message reply so you can render it etc. Wonder what someone could all do and make work. edit Guess someone made a TCP relay using WhatApp already, neat.

jackconsidine 3y ago
I see you found that TCP relay- I've been dying to try it but I've heard of people successfully using it https://github.com/aleixrodriala/wa-tunnel https://github.com/aleixrodriala/wa-tunnel
darknavi 3y ago
https://github.com/aleixrodriala/wa-tunnel https://github.com/aleixrodriala/wa-tunnel
vzqx 3y ago
I've noticed that airline wifi doesn't block DNS traffic. You can likely accomplish the same thing with a DNS tunnel like Iodine (https://github.com/yarrick/iodine https://github.com/yarrick/iodine).
- bombcar 3y ago
  Sometimes they just redirect ALL DNS traffic to their little portal until you sign in/up.
- lazycouchpotato 3y ago
  Many years ago, I noticed I could browse the Google Play Store on a flight WiFi without paying for it. No images would load and no apps would download, but I could browse through app listings and read reviews. Would this be related to DNS?
  - owl57 3y ago
    Probably not. I bet something in Android didn't work properly until they whitelisted some Google domains — for example, maybe it didn't detect the Internet connection when the user paid for it, or maybe something on the entertainment tablets broke (I don't know if they usually run Android or something else).
    - bpye 3y ago
      This seems likely. ~6 years ago on a Delta flight I noticed that I could use Google and view cached pages without paying for WiFi. I managed to catch up on the news on my flight…
youens 3y ago
I happened to have had a flight a day or two after the first beta of Apple’s Private Relay a year or two ago. I was able to use free WiFi the entire flight. Presumably because whatever they whitelisted for iMessage and/or push notifications covered that as well. They had blocked it before my return flight days later. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- madeofpalk 3y ago
  Huh. Maybe this explains why my "messaging only" wifi on Virgin Atlantic a few weeks ago gave me full, slow, internet access?
ip26 3y ago
Instead of “wow, cool” my first reaction is “free messaging is a great perk, if this is abused they will shut it down”. I guess my hacker days are behind me.
- cromka 3y ago
  Airlines already introduce free WiFi to everyone for free. JetBlue does it, Delta also does it for continental flights. Eventually all will, as there is more competition in the tech and prices drop.
jiveturkey 3y ago
I've not read the EULA but why not just have an actual IP router? Pay the signup charge, and also stand up a wifi network. Call it "Foo discounted" if the plane's SSID is "Foo". Put up a captive portal that lets the user claim various "discounts", like veteran, senior, child, etc. No matter what they choose, charge them $2 via a payment page. Once you've been made whole on the service cost, future visitors get a notice that "all discounts have been claimed, please use Foo". Now you have free internet and all those using your router/portal have $2 internet. The upstream bandwidth is certainly atrocious so you will easily be able to multiplex all the data onto your connection. Bundle it into a RPi kind of device (has to look finished, like a music player or smth, to get past security) so that you can continue to operate the device even when tray tables have to go up, when you go to the bathroom, etc. I find it extremely doubtful that the airplane has WIPS or WIDS that will deassociate connections to your rogue wifi. And after all, are you not allowed to have a LAN party?
benced 3y ago
I believe this is the approach that Flighty (https://flightyapp.com/ https://flightyapp.com/) uses to send flight updates while on non-paid Wifi.
- acwan93 3y ago
  Flighty leverages the Apple Push Notification Service (APN), which the iMessage infrastructure also uses. It's why you can receive notifications in flight but can't act on them.
furyg3 3y ago
Way back in the day a lot of authenticated wifi firewalls did enable DNS requests to pass through, or at least to resolve using their DNS server, without being authenticated. Someone smart created a TCP-over-DNS tunneling tool that I had a lot of great experience with, at least for more simple news websites of the day. https://analogbit.com/software/tcp-over-dns/ https://analogbit.com/software/tcp-over-dns/
- cromka 3y ago
  A more current alternative: https://github.com/yarrick/iodine https://github.com/yarrick/iodine
  - ale42 3y ago
    Tried this on a flight 4 years ago -- I got to SSH into a machine and read my mails, it felt like I was connecting from a space ship... so funny but not actually usable to browse the web or do any actual work ;-)

jackconsidine 3y ago

I see you found that TCP relay- I've been dying to try it but I've heard of people successfully using it https://github.com/aleixrodriala/wa-tunnel https://github.com/aleixrodriala/wa-tunnel

darknavi 3y ago

https://github.com/aleixrodriala/wa-tunnel https://github.com/aleixrodriala/wa-tunnel

vzqx 3y ago

I've noticed that airline wifi doesn't block DNS traffic. You can likely accomplish the same thing with a DNS tunnel like Iodine (https://github.com/yarrick/iodine https://github.com/yarrick/iodine).

bombcar 3y ago
Sometimes they just redirect ALL DNS traffic to their little portal until you sign in/up.
lazycouchpotato 3y ago
Many years ago, I noticed I could browse the Google Play Store on a flight WiFi without paying for it. No images would load and no apps would download, but I could browse through app listings and read reviews. Would this be related to DNS?
- owl57 3y ago
  Probably not. I bet something in Android didn't work properly until they whitelisted some Google domains — for example, maybe it didn't detect the Internet connection when the user paid for it, or maybe something on the entertainment tablets broke (I don't know if they usually run Android or something else).
  - bpye 3y ago
    This seems likely. ~6 years ago on a Delta flight I noticed that I could use Google and view cached pages without paying for WiFi. I managed to catch up on the news on my flight…

youens 3y ago

I happened to have had a flight a day or two after the first beta of Apple’s Private Relay a year or two ago. I was able to use free WiFi the entire flight. Presumably because whatever they whitelisted for iMessage and/or push notifications covered that as well. They had blocked it before my return flight days later. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

madeofpalk 3y ago
Huh. Maybe this explains why my "messaging only" wifi on Virgin Atlantic a few weeks ago gave me full, slow, internet access?

ip26 3y ago

Instead of “wow, cool” my first reaction is “free messaging is a great perk, if this is abused they will shut it down”. I guess my hacker days are behind me.

cromka 3y ago
Airlines already introduce free WiFi to everyone for free. JetBlue does it, Delta also does it for continental flights. Eventually all will, as there is more competition in the tech and prices drop.

jiveturkey 3y ago

I've not read the EULA but why not just have an actual IP router? Pay the signup charge, and also stand up a wifi network. Call it "Foo discounted" if the plane's SSID is "Foo". Put up a captive portal that lets the user claim various "discounts", like veteran, senior, child, etc. No matter what they choose, charge them $2 via a payment page. Once you've been made whole on the service cost, future visitors get a notice that "all discounts have been claimed, please use Foo". Now you have free internet and all those using your router/portal have $2 internet. The upstream bandwidth is certainly atrocious so you will easily be able to multiplex all the data onto your connection. Bundle it into a RPi kind of device (has to look finished, like a music player or smth, to get past security) so that you can continue to operate the device even when tray tables have to go up, when you go to the bathroom, etc. I find it extremely doubtful that the airplane has WIPS or WIDS that will deassociate connections to your rogue wifi. And after all, are you not allowed to have a LAN party?

benced 3y ago

I believe this is the approach that Flighty (https://flightyapp.com/ https://flightyapp.com/) uses to send flight updates while on non-paid Wifi.

acwan93 3y ago
Flighty leverages the Apple Push Notification Service (APN), which the iMessage infrastructure also uses. It's why you can receive notifications in flight but can't act on them.

furyg3 3y ago

Way back in the day a lot of authenticated wifi firewalls did enable DNS requests to pass through, or at least to resolve using their DNS server, without being authenticated. Someone smart created a TCP-over-DNS tunneling tool that I had a lot of great experience with, at least for more simple news websites of the day. https://analogbit.com/software/tcp-over-dns/ https://analogbit.com/software/tcp-over-dns/

cromka 3y ago
A more current alternative: https://github.com/yarrick/iodine https://github.com/yarrick/iodine
- ale42 3y ago
  Tried this on a flight 4 years ago -- I got to SSH into a machine and read my mails, it felt like I was connecting from a space ship... so funny but not actually usable to browse the web or do any actual work ;-)