A step-by-step guide how to use Tor without Authentication

TorNoAuth.md

A step-by-step guide how to use Tor without Authentication

Tested on Ubuntu 16.04 Docker container. The Dockerfile is a single line FROM ubuntu:16.04.

NOTE: stopping services didn't work for me for some reason. That's why there is pidof <service name> | xargs kill after each failed service <service name> stop to kill it.

References

• How to request new TOR identity in terminal
• How to anonymize the programs from your terminal with torify
• How To: Using Tor From The Command Line
• How to change Tor identity in Python?
• Control Port telnet AUTHENTICATE without any password
• Tor IP changing and web scraping

Related

• A step-by-step guide how to use Python with Tor and Privoxy

Steps

1. Install and check Tor status

root@75f6721089f2:/# apt update
root@75f6721089f2:/# apt install tor
root@75f6721089f2:/# service tor status
 * tor is not running

2. Start Tor and check it's running

root@75f6721089f2:/# service tor start 
 * Starting tor daemon...          [ OK ] 
root@75f6721089f2:/# service tor status
 * tor is running

3. Try to Authenticate with nc (Netcat)

It's not possible to connect as ControlPort is not set yet.

root@75f6721089f2:/# apt install netcat
root@75f6721089f2:/# echo -e 'AUTHENTICATE' | nc 127.0.0.1 9051
(UNKNOWN) [127.0.0.1] 9051 (?) : Connection refused

4. Stop/kill Tor, set ControlPort and start Tor again

root@75f6721089f2:/# service tor stop
 * Stopping tor daemon...          [fail]
root@75f6721089f2:/# pidof tor | xargs kill
root@75f6721089f2:/# service tor status
 * tor is not running
root@75f6721089f2:/# echo "ControlPort 9051" >> /etc/tor/torrc
root@75f6721089f2:/# service tor start 
 * Starting tor daemon...          [ OK ] 

5. Try to Authenticate with nc again

It's possible to connect but Authentication fails.

root@75f6721089f2:/# echo -e 'AUTHENTICATE' | nc 127.0.0.1 9051
515 Authentication failed: Wrong length on authentication cookie.

6. Stop/kill Tor, turn off CookieAuthentication and start Tor again

root@75f6721089f2:/# service tor stop
 * Stopping tor daemon...          [fail]
root@75f6721089f2:/# pidof tor | xargs kill
root@75f6721089f2:/# echo "CookieAuthentication 0" >> /etc/tor/torrc
root@75f6721089f2:/# service tor start
 * Starting tor daemon...
Jan 20 11:34:30.911 [warn] ControlPort is open, but no authentication method has been configured. 
                           This means that any program on your computer can reconfigure your Tor.
                           That's bad!
                           You should upgrade your Tor controller as soon as possible.
                    [ OK ] 

7. Try to Authenticate with nc again

Authentication passes.

# NOTE Use Ctrl+C to exit.
root@75f6721089f2:/# echo -e 'AUTHENTICATE' | nc 127.0.0.1 9051
250 OK

8. Check your public IP and currently used Tor ip

root@75f6721089f2:/# apt install curl
root@75f6721089f2:/# curl http://icanhazip.com/ 
89.196.159.79
root@75f6721089f2:/# torify curl http://icanhazip.com/   
185.220.101.17

9. Change and check Tor IP

root@75f6721089f2:/# echo -e 'AUTHENTICATE\r\nsignal NEWNYM\r\nQUIT' | nc 127.0.0.1 9051
250 OK
250 OK
250 closing connection
root@75f6721089f2:/# torify curl http://icanhazip.com/
185.220.101.6

10. Change (with Python3) and check Tor IP

root@75f6721089f2:/# apt install python3
root@75f6721089f2:/# apt install python3-pip
root@75f6721089f2:/# pip3 install stem
root@75f6721089f2:/# python3

>>> from stem import Signal
>>> from stem.control import Controller
>>> 
>>> with Controller.from_port(port=9051) as controller:
...     controller.authenticate()
...     controller.signal(Signal.NEWNYM)
... 
>>> 

root@75f6721089f2:/# torify curl http://icanhazip.com/
185.107.81.233

If you know where the cookie file is, like let's say /run/tor/control.authcookie, then you can run this command:

echo -e 'AUTHENTICATE '`hexdump -ve '1/1 "%.2x"' /run/tor/control.authcookie`'\r\nsignal NEWNYM\r\nQUIT' | nc 127.0.0.1 9051

As a reference, if you run tor in docker container, here's a useful command:

docker compose exec tor sh -c 'hexdump -ve '"'"'1/1 "%.2x"'"'"' /etc/tor/run/control.authcookie | xargs printf "AUTHENTICATE %s\r\n$*\r\nQUIT\r\n" | nc localhost 9051' _ signal NEWNYM

This applies to dperson/torproxy as your container's image. Lookup the placement of control.authcookie in your Dockerfile.