# x011/smtp-tunnel-proxy

A high-speed covert tunnel that disguises TCP traffic as SMTP email communication to bypass Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) firewalls.

Repository: https://github.com/x011/smtp-tunnel-proxy
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/smtp-tunnel-proxy
Language: Python
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: censorship-circumvention, censorship-resistance, covert-tunnel, deep-packet-inspection, encryption, evasion, network-security, proxy, python, smtp, socks5, socks5-proxy, socks5-server, tls, tunnel
Last push: 2026-01-07T08:24:27+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 42/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 61, release rhythm 33, longevity 17
- inputs: {"age_days": 239, "days_push": 238, "days_rel": 238, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 1}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1782, forks 163 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:35.592423+00:00)

## What it is
A Python-based covert tunneling tool that disguises TCP traffic as SMTP email sessions to evade Deep Packet Inspection firewalls. It exposes a local SOCKS5 proxy on the client and relays traffic through a TLS-encrypted, SMTP-mimicking tunnel to a server on a VPS.

## Use cases
- bypass DPI firewalls blocking VPN traffic
- tunnel arbitrary TCP traffic through networks that only allow email
- get a SOCKS5 proxy that looks like SMTP email traffic
- circumvent censorship in restrictive networks
- route browser traffic through a covert encrypted tunnel
- evade network traffic filtering at work or school

## When to choose
- you need to evade deep packet inspection that detects VPN or TLS proxy patterns
- you want a standard SOCKS5 interface usable by any application
- you need multi-user support with per-user keys and IP whitelists
- you can run a server on a VPS with port 587 open

## When to avoid
- you need a general-purpose VPN with full system-level traffic routing
- your network actually inspects SMTP content or blocks port 587
- you need high-throughput bulk data transfer with minimal latency
- you cannot obtain a domain name for TLS certificate verification

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: proxy, cryptography, networking, security, privacy
- domain: censorship-circumvention, privacy, networking, security
- platform: windows, python, cli, cross-platform
- tags: covert-tunnel, dpi-evasion, socks5-proxy, smtp-masquerade, tls, anti-censorship, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- x011/smtp-tunnel-proxy (main) score 42

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:35.592423+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:24:23.600473+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/x011/smtp-tunnel-proxy (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:35.592423+00:00, sha 5dc99e711054)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.