proxychains-rs

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A modern Rust implementation of classic proxychains4, with cross-platform process-level proxy chaining:

• Linux: LD_PRELOAD
• macOS: DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES
• Windows: DLL injection + Winsock API hooks

Current Status

Platform	Runtime mechanism	Status
Linux	LD_PRELOAD	Stable
macOS	DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES	Stable
Windows	DLL injection + MinHook	Beta (production-usable, still expanding edge-case coverage)

Linux Compatibility (Important)

proxychains-rs works on mainstream Linux distributions, but "all Linux versions perfectly" is not a realistic claim.

What is supported now:

• Mainstream glibc-based distros on x86_64 (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, RHEL-like)
• Dynamic-linked applications that use libc/Winsock-equivalent socket APIs

What is not guaranteed:

• Very old distributions / very old glibc
• musl environments (for example Alpine) without extra validation
• Statically linked networking stacks that bypass hookable libc entry points

Recommendation:

• Treat Ubuntu/Debian/Fedora/RHEL-like modern releases as primary supported targets.
• If you need strict enterprise guarantee, run CI in your exact distro matrix.

Key Features

• Proxy protocols: socks5, socks4/socks4a, http, raw
• Chain modes: dynamic_chain, strict_chain, random_chain, load_balance, failover
• Proxy groups: [ProxyList:<group>] + --group
• Process tree mode: --tree
  • Windows: root process + child/grandchild process injection
  • Linux/macOS: inherited preload environment for child processes
• Discovery/validation:
  • --list-groups
  • --check
  • --probe (quick per-node reachability/latency check)
  • --probe-json (machine-readable probe output)
• DNS:
  • proxy_dns
  • compatibility aliases: proxy_dns_old, proxy_dns_daemon
  • fake-IP mapping with reverse mapping support
• Hot config reload (long-running process):
  • hooks re-check and reload config automatically (about every 2 seconds)
  • works on Linux/macOS/Windows with aligned behavior
• Compatibility aliases:
  • round_robin_chain -> load_balance
• IPv6 progress:
  • IPv6 targets supported through SOCKS5/HTTP hops
  • SOCKS4/4a does not support IPv6 targets

Build

Prerequisites:

• Rust 1.70+
• Cargo

Build and test:

cargo test --workspace --all-targets
cargo build --release --workspace

Binaries

After build:

Platform	CLI	Library
Linux	target/release/proxychains4	target/release/libproxychains.so
macOS	target/release/proxychains4	target/release/libproxychains.dylib
Windows	target/release/proxychains4.exe	target/release/proxychains.dll

Quick Usage

# Linux/macOS
proxychains4 curl https://ifconfig.me

# Windows
proxychains4.exe curl https://ifconfig.me

Forced validation manual:

• docs/forced-proxy-validation.md

Validate config and groups:

proxychains4 -f ./proxychains.conf --list-groups
proxychains4 -f ./proxychains.conf --group jp --check
proxychains4 -f ./proxychains.conf --group jp --probe
proxychains4 -f ./proxychains.conf --probe --probe-timeout-ms 1200
proxychains4 -f ./proxychains.conf --probe --probe-json
proxychains4 -f ./proxychains.conf --tree curl https://ifconfig.me

Example Config

dynamic_chain
proxy_dns
remote_dns_subnet 224
tcp_read_time_out 15000
tcp_connect_time_out 8000
max_chain_retries 8

# compatibility alias examples:
# round_robin_chain
# proxy_dns_old
# proxy_dns_daemon 127.0.0.1:1053

[ProxyList]
socks5 127.0.0.1 1080
# socks5 proxy.example.com 1080
# socks4 127.0.0.1 1081
# http   127.0.0.1 8080

[ProxyList:jp]
socks5 10.0.0.2 1080

[ProxyList:us]
socks5 10.0.0.3 1080

DNS and Leak-Prevention Notes

• Enable proxy_dns to route hostname resolution through proxychains logic.
• In modern code paths, hooks avoid system-DNS fallback in proxy DNS mode.
• As with any hook-based system, test with your target applications (especially unusual runtime/linking models).

CI / Release

• CI: multi-platform build/test in GitHub Actions
• Release: tagged builds publish assets (Windows zip, Linux tar/deb, macOS tar)

Troubleshooting

• No proxies configured: check [ProxyList] and -f path
• DNS leak concern: ensure proxy_dns is enabled
• Windows DLL error: keep proxychains4.exe and proxychains.dll in same directory
• Linux preload issue: verify dynamic linking and LD_PRELOAD behavior

License

GPL-2.0

Acknowledgment

Inspired by proxychains-ng.