Accessing a subnet that is behind a WireGuard client using a site-to-site setup

WireGuard-site-to-site.md

WireGuard Site-to-Site

Accessing a subnet that is behind a WireGuard client using a site-to-site setup

Problem Summary

We want to access a local subnet remotely, but it is behind a NAT firewall and we can't setup port forwarding. Outgoing connections work, but all incoming connections get DROPPED by the ISP's routing policy.

Solution Summary

We'll create a site-to-site connection with WireGuard allowing us to access the local subnet on a remote device (smartphone, in this example) by connecting through a cloud server in the middle.

Working Example

First let's define our three hosts. They all have WireGuard installed.

A the Linux machine on the local subnet, behind the NAT/firewall
B the Linux cloud server (VPS, like an Amazon EC2 instance)
C a third WireGuard client; a smartphone in this example

Host 'A'

The Host A's /etc/wireguard/wg0-client.conf:

[Interface]
Address = 10.200.200.5/24                  
PrivateKey = <HOST 'A' PRIVATE-KEY>
ListenPort = 27836                         # optional; will be randomly assigned otherwise
DNS = 1.1.1.1                              # or your own DNS server if you're running one    

[Peer]
PublicKey = <PUBLIC KEY OF HOST 'B'>
Endpoint = host-b-fqdn.tld:51820
AllowedIPs = 0.0.0.0/0, ::/0

PersistentKeepalive = 25                   # to keep connections alive across NAT

Here's what we need to add to Host A's iptables rules, expressed as the commands you would use to ADD them:

# iptables -A FORWARD -i wg0-client -j ACCEPT
# iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE

Finally, we need to make sure IP forwarding is enabled in Host A's kernel:

$ sysctl net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

Host 'B'

Host B's /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf:

[Interface]
Address = 10.200.200.1/24
PrivateKey = <HOST 'B' PRIVATE KEY>
ListenPort = 51820

PostUp = iptables -A FORWARD -i %i -j ACCEPT; iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o ens3 -j MASQUERADE
PostDown = iptables -D FORWARD -i %i -j ACCEPT; iptables -t nat -D POSTROUTING -o ens3 -j MASQUERADE


# This is the peer that is on the private subnet that we want to access.
#
# Notice the AllowedIPs... without this part, WireGuard will drop the 
# packets destined for the HOST 'A' subnet.  AllowedIPs is acting like
# a routing table and ACL here.

[Peer]
PublicKey = <HOST 'A' PUBLIC KEY>
AllowedIPs = 10.200.200.5/32, 100.10.202.0/24

# The smartphone
[Peer]
PublicKey = <HOST 'C' PUBLIC KEY>
AllowedIPs = 10.200.200.3/32

# An additional peer...
[Peer]
PublicKey = <Additional peer pubkey>
AllowedIPs = 10.200.200.4/32

Like we did with Host A, IP forwarding must also be enabled on Host B:

$ sysctl net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

Host C

Host C's configuration file:

[Interface]
PrivateKey = <HOST 'C' PRIVATE KEY>
Address = 10.200.200.3/24
DNS = 1.1.1.1


[Peer]
PublicKey = <HOST 'B' PUBLIC KEY>
AllowedIPs = 0.0.0.0/0
Endpoint = host-b-fqdn.tld:51820
PersistentKeepalive = 25

You're finished.
Make sure WireGuard is running on both HOSTS A and B, and then on the smartphone (HOST C), after connecting to HOST B with WireGuard you should be able to ping 10.200.200.5.

Just in addition: Using an iperf3 client and server between the cloud server and a local server in my home network results in about 380 Mbits/sec. I am still wondering why the speed to other Wireguard clients is so low.

Took me a while to figure out I need to add

iptables -A FORWARD -i eth0 -j ACCEPT

on the client in order to access resources in the client network from the server....

Is there a way to also use this with firewalld and what rules would I need to set? Using firewalld on my VPS because it's the only firewall I remotely understand how to manage