An ovpn interface will keep carrier always on and let the user decide when an interface should be considered disconnected. This way, even if an ovpn interface is not connected to any peer, it can still retain all IPs and routes and thus prevent any data leak. Signed-off-by: Antonio Quartulli <antonio@xxxxxxxxxxx> Reviewed-by: Andrew Lunn <andrew@xxxxxxx> --- drivers/net/ovpn/main.c | 7 +++++++ 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+) diff --git a/drivers/net/ovpn/main.c b/drivers/net/ovpn/main.c index eead7677b8239eb3c48bb26ca95492d88512b8d4..eaa83a8662e4ac2c758201008268f9633643c0b6 100644 --- a/drivers/net/ovpn/main.c +++ b/drivers/net/ovpn/main.c @@ -31,6 +31,13 @@ static void ovpn_struct_free(struct net_device *net) static int ovpn_net_open(struct net_device *dev) { + /* ovpn keeps the carrier always on to avoid losing IP or route + * configuration upon disconnection. This way it can prevent leaks + * of traffic outside of the VPN tunnel. + * The user may override this behaviour by tearing down the interface + * manually. + */ + netif_carrier_on(dev); netif_tx_start_all_queues(dev); return 0; } -- 2.45.2