Use Tailscale with Mullvad on Linux

Use Tailscale and the Mullvad desktop app at the same time on Linux. This configuration marks Tailnet traffic so Mullvad permits the kernel to route it through tailscale0.

Based on TheOrangeOne's guide and Mullvad's advanced Linux split-tunnelling documentation. This variant adds IPv6 support, interface-restricted inbound rules, and a dedicated systemd service.

Tested on 2026-07-28 with:

• Ubuntu 26.04
• Mullvad 2026.3
• Tailscale 1.98.9

What it installs

• mullvad-tailscale.nft contains the firewall marks.
• tailscale-mullvad.service loads and removes that nftables table without taking ownership of the rest of the firewall.

The dedicated service does not enable the generic nftables.service and does not flush Mullvad's or Tailscale's dynamically managed firewall tables.

Important: Traffic addressed to the Tailnet bypasses Mullvad's tunnel routing so it can enter tailscale0. Tailscale still encrypts this traffic. Traffic not addressed to the Tailnet remains governed by Mullvad. Incoming connections also remain subject to your Tailscale access controls.

Prerequisites

• Linux with systemd
• Mullvad VPN desktop app
• Tailscale
• nftables (nft)
• The standard Tailscale interface name, tailscale0

Confirm the required commands, services, and interface exist:

command -v mullvad tailscale nft
systemctl status mullvad-daemon tailscaled --no-pager
ip link show tailscale0

Install

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/patrickfeeney03/mullvad-plus-tailscale.git
cd mullvad-plus-tailscale

Check both configuration files before installing them:

sudo nft --check --file mullvad-tailscale.nft
systemd-analyze verify "$PWD/tailscale-mullvad.service"

No output means the checks succeeded.

Install and enable the compatibility service:

sudo install -Dm0644 mullvad-tailscale.nft \
  /etc/nftables.d/mullvad-tailscale.nft
sudo install -Dm0644 tailscale-mullvad.service \
  /etc/systemd/system/tailscale-mullvad.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now tailscale-mullvad.service

If command -v nft reports a path other than /usr/sbin/nft, update the service file to use the reported absolute path before installing it.

Do not enable the generic nftables.service solely for this setup.

Verify

Check that the compatibility service is enabled and active:

systemctl is-enabled tailscale-mullvad.service
systemctl is-active tailscale-mullvad.service

The commands should report enabled and active.

Confirm that Mullvad remains connected:

mullvad status
curl https://am.i.mullvad.net/connected

Find an online Tailnet device and test it using its Tailscale IP or MagicDNS name:

tailscale status
tailscale ping 100.x.y.z
ping -c 3 100.x.y.z

Inspect the compatibility rules and their packet counters:

sudo nft list table inet mullvad_tailscale

The relevant IPv4 or IPv6 counters should increase as Tailnet traffic passes.

Address ranges and inbound access

• 100.64.0.0/10 is Tailscale's IPv4 shared-address range. It covers 100.64.0.0 through 100.127.255.255.
• fd7a:115c:a1e0::/48 is Tailscale's IPv6 range.

The output rules allow this computer to initiate Tailnet connections. The input rules allow other Tailnet devices to initiate connections to this computer. Incoming exceptions are restricted to packets that actually arrive through tailscale0.

Update

Pull the latest version, validate it, reinstall both files, and reload:

git pull --ff-only
sudo nft --check --file mullvad-tailscale.nft
systemd-analyze verify "$PWD/tailscale-mullvad.service"
sudo install -Dm0644 mullvad-tailscale.nft \
  /etc/nftables.d/mullvad-tailscale.nft
sudo install -Dm0644 tailscale-mullvad.service \
  /etc/systemd/system/tailscale-mullvad.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl reload tailscale-mullvad.service

Troubleshooting

Inspect the service and recent logs:

systemctl status tailscale-mullvad.service --no-pager
journalctl -u tailscale-mullvad.service -b --no-pager
journalctl -u tailscaled -b --no-pager

Confirm the expected interfaces and rules exist:

ip -brief address show tailscale0
ip -brief address show wg0-mullvad
sudo nft list table inet mullvad_tailscale

If a future Mullvad update changes its split-tunnelling implementation, verify these values against Mullvad's current documentation:

Connection-tracking mark: 0x00000f41
Routing/meta mark:         0x6d6f6c65

Disable or remove

Temporarily disable and restore the compatibility rule:

sudo systemctl stop tailscale-mullvad.service
sudo systemctl start tailscale-mullvad.service

Remove it completely:

sudo systemctl disable --now tailscale-mullvad.service
sudo rm /etc/systemd/system/tailscale-mullvad.service
sudo rm /etc/nftables.d/mullvad-tailscale.nft
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Stopping the service deletes only the inet mullvad_tailscale table.

Acknowledgements

• Accessing Tailscale whilst using Mullvad by TheOrangeOne
• Mullvad: Split tunneling with Linux (advanced)

License

MIT — see LICENSE.