Seeing 10.x.x.x addresses in my BitTorrent client

3

Off late, I am seeing a number of IP addresses starting with 10.x.x.x in my bittorrent peer list. Aren't these IP addresses supposed to be private ones? I don't understand how I am able to see the IP address instead of the WAN (external IP) of the client... Any one knows why?

Output:

traceroute to 10.8.73.85 (10.8.73.85), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  10.0.3.3 (10.0.3.3)  1.093 ms  0.842 ms  0.775 ms
 2  * * *
 3  * * *
 :
 :
29  * * *
30  * * *

Legend

Posted 2010-04-01T16:26:47.107

Reputation: 704

you should try tracerouting one of them from your machine to see how it's routed. use the tracert command on Windows or traceroute on Linux (maybe OSX too). if you post the output into your question we can explain more specifically; otherwise we'd just be offering a general explanation. – quack quixote – 2010-04-01T16:35:00.720

Thanks. I did that but thought it might not be very useful.... but in any case, just edited my question with the output. – Legend – 2010-04-01T16:39:08.497

Someone leeching your wireless and in need of the same files? That's a very small chance... Any idea what addresses your router's DHCP hands out? 10.8.73.85 seems to be an odd address anyhow, if your router starts at 10.0.0.0 (or maybe 10.0.3.0 in your case). – Arjan – 2010-04-01T16:54:13.577

Or using some TOR client, or some anonymising VPN? – Arjan – 2010-04-01T16:55:25.290

Actually yes... My internal IP address is 10.0.3.x and my external IP address is: 128.x.x.x. This is not very surprising that maybe someone else is downloading the same file on my LAN but what I was curious was that the IP was supposed to have been a external IP right? Or is it justified that it finds private IP addresses of this form? I am asking this because I do see other IP addresses starting with 128.x.x.x. If that's the case then how do these 10.x.x.x differ from the former? – Legend – 2010-04-01T17:02:02.280

Actually yes... -- yes what? – Arjan – 2010-04-02T19:56:36.863

2

(And for a quicker response, see How do comment replies work?)

– Arjan – 2010-04-02T20:07:45.020

@Arjan That yes was for my router having the address 10.0.3.0. As for Tor and VPN, we are not using any to my knowledge. Also thanks for the tip about replies... – Legend – 2010-04-03T17:19:24.793

And how come you think it is not very surprising that maybe someone else is downloading the same file on my LAN? Can't you tell who is on your LAN, and with what IP address? (Indeed, I'd expect all sorts of addresses, but not 10.x.x.x, 192.168.x.x nor 172.16-31.x.x, unless people are indeed downloading from the same LAN.) – Arjan – 2010-04-04T08:26:42.500

Answers

2

If you're on some anonymising VPN, then all your outgoing and incoming internet traffic will go through that VPN. And others using that very same VPN will have IP addresses in the same private range. (To the outside world, all these users will share a single public IP address, which is not the IP address as assigned by their ISP.)

(The same might apply to using Tor, but I doubt that.)

Arjan

Posted 2010-04-01T16:26:47.107

Reputation: 29 084

1

It looks like that address isn't actually working, so you're probably just picking up a stray LAN address from acquired from:

  1. a silly tracker
  2. peer exchange with a peer which doesn't know whether or not you're on the same LAN

SamB

Posted 2010-04-01T16:26:47.107

Reputation: 971

Interesting answer... Would you mind elaborating more on these points? I am pretty sure something like this should not happen and might be happening due to a bug somewhere but am very interested in knowing what might be causing this to happen. For instance, what exactly does silly mean? – Legend – 2010-04-01T20:08:17.913

Well, by "silly" I mean something like "buggy" or "misconfigured", but in a way that I can't see doing much harm. – SamB – 2010-04-01T21:06:59.167

Asked: 2010-04-01T16:26:47.107

Viewed: 730 times

Active: 2010-04-02T20:02:41.253