Unix-based SOCKS setup

First, protect the web interface port so that it cannot be accessed from the outside world.

You can use iptables to block the port as follows:

sudo iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 8080 -j DROP
sudo iptables -I INPUT -i eth0 -s 127.0.0.1 -p tcp --dport 8080 -j ACCEPT
Note: You may have to replace eth0 and 8080 above if you are using another interface.

SOCKS proxy setup
Once you block the web interface port, the easiest way to access it is to use ssh to set up a socks proxy.
Run the following command on your local machine (not the one running the web interface):

ssh -D 3000 USERNAME@HOST
Where,

HOST is the ip of your the web interface.
3000 can be changed to any port that is available on your local machine.

Then open your browser:

If you're using Chrome, go to Settings > Advanced settings > Network > Change proxy settings,
and set the Network proxy option to manual mode with the following settings:

Host: localhost
Port: 3000
Ignored host: (remove everything)

If you are using Firefox, go to Edit > Preferences.
Then click on Advanced > Network > Settings and create a manual proxy configuration with these settings:

Socks host: localhost
Port: 3000
Check socks v5
No proxy for: (remove everything)

You can now visit localhost:8080