WebRTC Leaks and Proxies: Why They Happen, How to Stop Them

Why WebRTC can show your real IP

WebRTC is how browsers make calls and peer-to-peer connections. To find a route, it asks a server for your public address, usually over UDP. A proxy carries the page's normal traffic, but if WebRTC's UDP traffic goes out directly, the page can read the address it found: your real one.

So the leak depends on what the browser does with WebRTC, not on the proxy type in its settings.

HTTP or SOCKS5: does it matter?

Not for leaks as such. HTTP and SOCKS5 proxies both carry web pages over TCP. A SOCKS5 proxy with UDP support can also carry WebRTC's UDP traffic if the browser sends it there; ProxyFall's SOCKS5 carries TCP only, so the browser's WebRTC setting is what protects you.

Pick HTTP or SOCKS5 for convenience, never "HTTPS" (an encrypted connection to the proxy itself, which ProxyFall doesn't offer), and leave any "UDP support" proxy option off.

How to stop it

In an antidetect browser, set the profile's WebRTC to the mode that replaces your IP with the proxy's, or to off; the table below gives each browser's own name for it. Let the browser take the timezone and geolocation from the proxy's IP too, so they match the IP.

In Firefox without an antidetect browser, setting media.peerconnection.enabled to false in about:config turns WebRTC off.

Then check: open a WebRTC leak test in the profile. The public IP it shows should be the proxy's, or none.