
DNS leak test showing USA cloudflare addresses instead of local NextDNS?

Hi there, I have been using the service for about a week now and have been enjoying the local fast queries and speeds. When I first got my service up and running I had 2 local dns servers powered by nextdns. Now when I am testing for dns leaks I am seeing entries for Cloudflare addresses back to USA - 172.70.37.108
Being in Aus this creates a noticable difference going from <10ms to ~330ms ping response times. Is this a cause of a setting ticked under the performance section in the settings? Again just seeking some clarity about what is causing this. Thanks.
Edit: I have just performed another leak test, no neither NextDNS servers are showing and am getting multiple Cloudflare addresses. I run a PiHole setup and force all traffic through it using the 2x servers provided under my https://my.nextdns.io/ page.
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I'm seeing similar “leaks“.
I use Safari on Big Sur (latest) with the NextDNS app.
I haven't seen this behavior on https://dnsleaktest.com, but sometimes on https://browserleaks.com/ip, and always on https://www.dns-oarc.net/oarc/services/dnsentropy.
Those other IPs from the DNS Oarc page are from Cloudflare somehow.
Test:
"status": "ok", "protocol": "DOH",
… … … "anycast": false, … … … … …
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And for https://cmdns.dev.dns-oarc.net, I get a C result (while getting an A without NextDNS enabled).
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On https://browserleaks.com/dns I sometimes also get Google DNS results in addition to the NextDNS one. The example below was with the NextDNS profile running, so it's not just the app I'm seeing this with. Reloading that page 20-30 times will usually trigger it.
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And I can now also see it on https://www.dnsleaktest.com.
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https://ipx.ac/run now also shows those DNS leaks.
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example nextdns leaking to another resolver did not happen with quad9
nextdns leaking to cloudflare https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ao_cI16Qge_xa3J2wGVU4q-EEj4
quad9 no leaking https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ao_cI16Qge_xbLJM4djQP7oyM20
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@Nextdns is there anyone from nextdns looking into this DNs leak issue ? I have similar issues posted in another thread-
https://help.nextdns.io/t/m1h16c3/block-public-dns-like-google-and-other-malware-dns
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I have a theory and I would like to ask everyone what are the main browsers you guys use, I for example use Brave and I noticed that several who are having DNS Leak are doing it for Brave and by the looks of it, Brave, well, it contacts Cloudflare and Google servers from time to time, which may be the cause of the mega leak we're noticing:
If you’re on Linux curl the static1 link. curl --head static1.brave.com, if you want proof of even further telemetry: it lists cloudfare and google, two unnecessary domains, but most importantly telemetry domains.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/privacytoolsIO/comments/nvz9tl/brave_is_not_private/
I'm asking this, because I decided to change to another DNS provider (ControlD) and the leak hasn't stopped, like, it's gone down, there are no more dozens of servers, at most, only three (All from Cloudflare), but it still goes on, so I decided it would be good to ask which browser you are using and if the leak problem seems to be worse on some specifics than others, as those who seem to use Firefox aren't getting the same level of leaks as those who auditioned for Brave. So, I think it would be good to do this comparison, as it might not be a NextDNS problem, but a browser issue (Since at least for me, I'm testing another Provider and the problem hasn't stopped, but the leak has decreased a lot).
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Myth0ne said:
So for your paid service is it just the logging and blocking functionalities for infinite queries that are enabled?Yeah. The paid plan gives you unlimited full-service queries. For $2/mo, it's one of the better deals on the internet.
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Same here, I tried using all DNS providers known to me from BlahDNS to Google and in all usual configurations. Tested on multiple websites.
None of them leaked except for NextDNS. Another interesting point to note is that after testing with other DNS providers when I switch to NextDNS, some of servers from the previous tests show up on https://browserleaks.com/dns , such as WoodyNet of Quad9 or Cloudfare, Ashburn (which is very frequent in the results) . However, this is not true for other providers, when switched to say BlahDNS I only see the servers that I saw previous month.
I'll be adding pictures once I redo the tests later since I forgot to take some screenshots.
However, something is wrong NextDNS's side for sure. It maybe a bug given how frequent it is with other users as well.
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Here are my DNS leaks -
[United States of America, AS701 MCI Communications Services Inc. d/b/a Verizon Business]
You use 20 DNS servers:
2a00:1450:400c:c08::110
[Belgium, AS15169 Google LLC]
2a00:1450:400c:c0d::101
[Belgium, AS15169 Google LLC]
2a0b:4342:1a32:f:5054:ff:fe48:d17f
[United States of America, AS35487 Misaka Network Inc.]
2a00:1450:400c:c00::104
[Belgium, AS15169 Google LLC]
2a00:1450:400c:c0d::107
[Belgium, AS15169 Google LLC]
2a00:1450:400c:c08::105
[Belgium, AS15169 Google LLC]
2a00:1450:400c:c00::107
[Belgium, AS15169 Google LLC]
2a00:1450:400c:c01::108
[Belgium, AS15169 Google LLC]
2a00:1450:400c:c1b::105
[Belgium, AS15169 Google LLC]
2a00:1450:400c:c00::105
[Belgium, AS15169 Google LLC]
2a00:1450:400c:c0a::107
[Belgium, AS15169 Google LLC]
2a00:1450:400c:c1b::10c
[Belgium, AS15169 Google LLC]
2a00:1450:400c:c0a::109
[Belgium, AS15169 Google LLC]
74.125.47.11
[Belgium, AS15169 Google LLC]
74.125.47.130
[Belgium, AS15169 Google LLC]
74.125.47.155
[Belgium, AS15169 Google LLC]
74.125.73.70
[Belgium, AS15169 Google LLC]
74.125.73.77
[Belgium, AS15169 Google LLC]
74.125.73.82
[Belgium, AS15169 Google LLC]
199.119.65.94
[United States of America, AS57695 Misaka Network Inc.] -
I noticed that I commented that ControlD was also experiencing a leak similar to NextDNS I forgot to print a screenshot showing about it, so I decided to come here to show that this is a problem that is not only affecting NextDNS, but that it is also affecting another service similar to NextDNS (I hope this information can be useful for the quest to find a solution to this problem.):
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https://www.reddit.com/r/Windscribe/comments/p452iw/dns_leak/ - I found this when I was back about DNS leakage and I think this might be useful for some people. Me for example, I don't understand how they fixed it, but it has something to do with the Windows settings that changed after an update. I hope this can be useful.
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It is quite possible that NextDNS is using Cloudflare and Google as their hosting provider. They might be running microservices at the edge from these companies. Hence, it doesn't mean that NextDNS is leaking our DNS requests to Cloudflare or Google, instead the resolutions are happening at the hosting provided by both these companies.
To bolster my theory, I can see Digitalocean as the ISP in my DNS leak test. This means, NexDNS has a server at DO close to my location to support my DNS Queries. -
Here to chime in and repeat a lot of what has already been mentioned here. I have the same problem with DNS leaks and I have noticed this has been happening (and like this) for months. Does not matter if it is router, OS, browser, etc. configured. Does not matter if IPV4 or IPV6 is used or not used. When running the DNS leak test some times it is fine some times it is not. If you keep repeating the test it happens eventually. It is not unknown for the test to report back with hundreds of servers. Doing a test now and it says, "Found 163 Servers, 8 ISP, 9 Locations".
I have noticed if only DOH is configured and when running the Browser Leaks test some of the DNS queries are not being resolved over DOH. You can watch the queries been resolved in the logs tab and enabling live logging. The lock icon is missing from some of these queries.
To confirm, if I use another DNS resolver such as Cloudflare, Quad9, etc. this never happens. Only NextDNS. I suspect it is a misconfiguration or issue with NextDNS servers and its been like this for a long time.
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I have had similar issues. Let's put on our tinfoil thinking caps and consider a far simpler explanation I think we have to consider that this is mostly the NSA and at times the UK and other intelligence agencies routing entire domains through their national networks for packet sniffing or whatever Snowden had mentioned this before. The Ashburn location is just the whois registered address, at least one of the geolocations in Ashburn is that registered address. The other precise Ashburn geolocation always returns a specific location to a specific parking place in Ashburn
. It's likely DNS spoofing or cache poisoning or something. I've really been digging into whois and doing multiple trace routes and checking multiple geolocation protocols. If NextDNS has servers in the USA then they are required by CALEA to provide access to the USA government just like any other ISP or phone company in the USA is required to do so, Cloudflare Google, etc.
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I think maybe I was able to spot this "DNS Leak" or at least I was able to reproduce it several times and noticed this pattern.
I'm using DOH, so not much to explain about the configuration, so I went to www.dnsleaktest.com with no other browser tabs open and the result of the first image below.
So I went to nextdns settings and logs and check the option to update the logs automatically and did a new test and the result is the second image.
Using the site ncheck.tools I had the same result but using this site and just a refresh in the log using the browser's F5, these "leaks" also appear.
I can't explain why this is happening, but this is probably the "problem" that many users are reporting here on the community and elsewhere on the internet like reddit.
Hope this helps. -
Complementing the tests, the problem occurs with Chrome, Edge and Firefox. I decided to do a test with Adguard using the same method and the problem also occurred, only in this case the dns leak occurs for cloudflare while in nextdns it occurs with google. In both services and in any of the 3 browsers immediately changing the DOH to Quad9 or Google Dns the problem disappears. The only similarity between nextdns and adguard I see the ".io" domain in the control panel.
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Personnally I don't trust 100% all those DNS leak tools.
For instance the one I always use, because I found ressourcefull, is https://browserleaks.com/ip
Despite a correct configuration on my side I always end up with 2 DNS when I do a test. The one from my VPN and the one from NextDNS. However when I refresh the page I only get NextDNS. Never understood why. Oh well!