WebRTC IP Leak Test
Check if your browser leaks your real IP address through WebRTC connections, even when using a VPN.
How to Use the WebRTC Leak Test
- Open the tool to automatically test for WebRTC IP leaks.
- The test detects local IP addresses, public IPs, and IPv6 addresses exposed via WebRTC.
- Compare the detected IPs with your VPN's assigned IP to identify leaks.
- Follow the provided recommendations to disable or mitigate WebRTC leaks in your browser.
What is a WebRTC Leak?
WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) is a browser technology that enables peer-to-peer communication for video calls, voice calls, and data sharing. To establish direct connections between peers, WebRTC uses the ICE (Interactive Connectivity Establishment) framework, which gathers all available network interface addresses including local private IPs and public IPs. This process can reveal your real IP address even when you are connected to a VPN. The leak occurs because WebRTC's STUN (Session Traversal Utilities for NAT) requests can bypass the VPN tunnel and reach external STUN servers directly, revealing your actual public IP address. Additionally, the ICE candidate gathering process exposes local network IP addresses (like 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x), which can reveal information about your local network topology. These requests happen at the browser level, often without the user's knowledge or consent. WebRTC leaks are a significant privacy concern for VPN users who expect their real IP to be hidden. Websites can use simple JavaScript to trigger WebRTC's ICE gathering and collect your real IP address in seconds. To prevent leaks, you can disable WebRTC entirely in browser settings (Firefox: media.peerconnection.enabled = false), use browser extensions that block WebRTC, or use a VPN client that includes WebRTC leak protection. Some VPN providers route WebRTC traffic through their tunnel, but this is not universal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not necessarily. Many VPNs do not prevent WebRTC leaks because WebRTC operates at the browser level and can make STUN requests outside the VPN tunnel. Some premium VPN providers include WebRTC leak protection, but you should always test with this tool while connected to your VPN to verify. Browser-level mitigations are more reliable.
In Firefox, go to about:config and set media.peerconnection.enabled to false. Chrome does not have a built-in setting, but you can use extensions like WebRTC Leak Prevent or uBlock Origin with WebRTC leak prevention enabled. In Safari, WebRTC can be disabled in the Develop menu. Disabling WebRTC will break video conferencing tools like Google Meet and Zoom Web.
A local IP leak reveals your private network address (e.g., 192.168.1.5), which exposes your LAN topology. A public IP leak reveals your actual internet-facing IP address, which can identify your ISP and approximate location even when using a VPN. Public IP leaks are more concerning for privacy, but local IPs can also be used for network reconnaissance.
Yes. Any website can use a few lines of JavaScript to trigger WebRTC's ICE gathering and collect your IP addresses without any visible notification or permission prompt. This happens instantly and silently. This is why WebRTC leaks are considered one of the most significant threats to VPN-based privacy.