{"id":251162,"date":"2026-05-21T05:37:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T09:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/this-serious-android-vpn-bug-can-leak-your-internet-traffic-heres-what-you-need-to-know\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T06:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T10:00:09","slug":"this-serious-android-vpn-bug-can-leak-your-internet-traffic-heres-what-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/this-serious-android-vpn-bug-can-leak-your-internet-traffic-heres-what-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"This serious Android VPN bug can leak your internet traffic \u2013 here’s what you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"

This serious Android VPN bug can leak your internet traffic \u2013 here’s what you need to know<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.tomsguide.com\/computing\/vpns\/this-serious-android-vpn-bug-can-leak-your-internet-traffic-heres-what-you-need-to-know<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-05-21 05:37:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.tomsguide.com<\/a><\/p>\n

A newly discovered Android 16 bug could allow apps to leak traffic outside VPN tunnels, potentially exposing users’ real IP addresses even when Always-On VPN and Android’s built-in kill switch are enabled.<\/p>\n

The flaw affects all the best VPNs, and was highlighted by Mullvad VPN, one of the most private VPNs available.<\/p>\n

Its blog post announcing the bug is designed to spread knowledge about this issue to help keep our users safe.<\/p>\n

According to the Mullvad, malicious apps may be able to bypass VPN protections under certain conditions and reveal a user’s real IP address to external servers.<\/p>\n

That’s a serious concern for those who rely on the best Android VPNs to hide their location, reduce tracking, or secure their traffic on public Wi-Fi networks.<\/p>\n

A new VPN leak that allows any app to leak traffic outside the VPN tunnel has recently been discovered by @cybaqkebm Read more here: https:\/\/t.co\/K9bxtiGHbwMay 12, 2026<\/p>\n

What’s behind the Android 16 VPN leak?<\/h2>\n

The leak stems from a flaw in how Android 16 handles QUIC connection shutdowns.<\/p>\n

According to Mullvad, apps can abuse a system function tied to the Connectivity Manager service to send specific traffic outside the VPN tunnel. This means a malicious app could reveal a user’s real IP address to external servers, even if the device is configured to block all non-VPN traffic.<\/p>\n

Mullvad says the issue affects all VPN apps on Android 16 because the vulnerability exists within the operating system itself. The Sweden-based VPN also noted that GrapheneOS, a privacy-focused Android-based operating system, has already patched the flaw in its own codebase.<\/p>\n

Why this isn’t just a Mullvad problem <\/h2>\n

\n

(Image credit: Kenneth Cheung \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n

VPN leaks are not entirely new, but this case stands out because it bypasses Android’s strongest VPN protections, including “Always-On VPN” and “Block connections without VPN.”<\/p>\n

The issue was reportedly shared with Google’s Android Security Team, but Mullvad says the report was closed as “Won’t Fix…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This serious Android VPN bug can leak your internet traffic \u2013 here’s what you need…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":251163,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/kPEKvXvAjrzUiMaTbkoM37-1280-80.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[89,70,57,27],"class_list":["post-251162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-android","tag-flaw","tag-google","tag-security","tag-vulnerability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251162"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251162"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251164,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251162\/revisions\/251164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}