Mullvad VPN through Tor

General
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According to Mullvad, setting up Tor :right_arrow: VPN is not a bad scenario.

Tor and Mullvad VPN
In this guide we will install Tor / Tor Browser and enable other apps to connect to the internet via the Tor proxy and Mullvad VPN.

Overview

First we will install OpenVPN and configure it to connect to Mullvad via the Tor Browser (Windows, macOS) or Tor service (Linux). Then we will configure Firefox (or other apps) to connect to Mullvad using our SOCKS5 proxy.

The end result is that Firefox connects via Tor to Mullvad (“VPN through Tor”). Mullvad will be the exit node.

I just noticed this in their help guide, which I didn’t expect.

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it’s a good idea if you need to use sites that dont allow tor connections, but its not a good idea for casual usage.

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Per our recommendations:

If you live in a free country, are accessing mundane content via Tor, aren’t worried about your ISP or local network administrators having the knowledge that you’re using Tor, and want to help destigmatize Tor usage, you can likely connect to Tor directly via standard means like Tor Browser without worry.

If you have the ability to access a trusted VPN provider and any of the following are true, you almost certainly should connect to Tor through a VPN:

  • You already use a trusted VPN provider
  • Your threat model includes an adversary which is capable of extracting information from your ISP
  • Your threat model includes your ISP itself as an adversary
  • Your threat model includes local network administrators before your ISP as an adversary

Because we already generally recommend that the vast majority of people use a trusted VPN provider for a variety of reasons, the following recommendation about connecting to Tor via a VPN likely applies to you. There is no need to disable your VPN before connecting to Tor, as some online resources would lead you to believe.

Use a VPN if you believe your threat model involves your ISP. A trusted VPN can help you obscure your activity from, for example, a network admin at a university. It CAN be helpful to hide your Tor activity but not perfect.

If you’re using Tails, just use a Tor Bridge. Don’t configure anything like a VPN connection that can exacerbate fingerprinting. Not sure if this same advice applies to folks with a router-wide VPN

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The same recommendations also states the following:

We very strongly discourage combining Tor with a VPN in any other manner. Do not configure your connection in a way which resembles any of the following:

  • You → Tor → VPN → Internet
  • You → VPN → Tor → VPN → Internet
  • Any other configuration

Some VPN providers and other publications will occasionally recommend these bad configurations to evade Tor bans (i.e., exit nodes being blocked by websites) in some places. Normally, Tor frequently changes your circuit path through the network. When you choose a permanent destination VPN (connecting to a VPN server after Tor), you’re eliminating this advantage and drastically harming your anonymity.

Setting up bad configurations like these is difficult to do accidentally, because it usually involves either setting up custom proxy settings inside Tor Browser, or setting up custom proxy settings inside your VPN client which routes your VPN traffic through the Tor Browser. As long as you avoid these non-default configurations, you’re probably fine.