Run Maigret Over Tor Without DNS Leaks

Ensure you have permission to probe usernames before routing Maigret through anonymity networks.

Why this happens

Maigret defaults to direct HTTP(S) requests. Without a proxy, origin IPs and DNS lookups expose your network. Tor routes TCP traffic through relay circuits and hides the source as long as every request flows through the SOCKS port. Mixing direct traffic with Tor can still leak metadata.

Step-by-step

# 1. Install Tor (Debian/Ubuntu)
sudo apt update && sudo apt install tor

# 2. Confirm SOCKS listener
sudo systemctl status tor
# Default: 127.0.0.1:9050

# 3. Run Maigret through Tor socks5 proxy
maigret johndoe --proxy socks5://127.0.0.1:9050 --timeout 45 --max-connections 40

Add the proxy permanently in settings.json so automation always routes via Tor:

{
  "proxy": "socks5://127.0.0.1:9050",
  "timeout": 45,
  "max_connections": 40
}

Verification checklist

• Self-check: maigret --self-check --proxy socks5://127.0.0.1:9050 disables sites that fail via Tor.
• torsocks curl: torsocks curl https://ifconfig.me should return a Tor exit IP.
• DNS leak test: Use torsocks dig example.com to ensure lookups travel over Tor.
• Traffic capture: sudo tcpdump -i any 'dst port 9050' should show Maigret TCP flows only to Tor.

Workflow diagram

  flowchart TD
    A[Maigret CLI] -->|SOCKS5| B[Tor Client 127.0.0.1:9050]
    B --> C{Tor Network}
    C --> D[Tor Exit Node]
    D --> E[Target Site]

Troubleshooting

• Connection refused: Port 9050 closed → restart Tor (sudo systemctl restart tor).
• CAPTCHA explosions: Add --timeout 60 --max-connections 20 to reduce aggressive parallelism.
• Geo-blocking: Choose exits via Tor exit policies or run Maigret through Tor bridge.
• HTTPS inspection: Enable torsocks for supportive commands: torsocks maigret --parse https://target. This enforces Tor even when you shell out.

When you schedule Maigret, wrap the cron command in torsocks or a systemd unit that exports ALL_PROXY=socks5://127.0.0.1:9050 to avoid one-off leaks.