[Retr0id]

I've been planning a similarly "paranoid" (but apparently not that paranoid) Tailscale setup, for the same reasons.

Another concern I have is whether a compromise of Tailscale's own infra could let an attacker just add itself to my network. Apparently the "Tailnet Lock" feature mitigates this, but it is off by default. If I was an APT, compromising Tailscale would be priority number 1!

[traceroute66]

> Another concern I have is whether a compromise of Tailscale's own infra could let an attacker just add itself to my network. Apparently the "Tailnet Lock" feature mitigates this, but it is off by default.

Yeah, we use "tailnet lock" to sort of cover that. AFAIK its the only option available.

I say "sort of" because "tailnet lock" is a bit half-assed in its design and implementation.

For example, you cannot sign new nodes from mobile devices (e.g. iOS). And as we know, locking down iOS is easier than a full desktop machine. So that's a bit of a missed opportunity. And as usual, there's a Tailscale Github issue open for it for years ...

And in practice, the "tailnet lock" addition is done through the `tailscale` software on the desktop/laptop. Its click a button or run a CLI without further authentication/authorisation required. So basically anyone could do it. And the keys are, of course, open to exfiltration, you can't use a Yubikey or anything like that. And you can't require multi-signer. Complete joke really.

Also if you use "tailnet lock" with the Tailscale Mullvad integration, its a one-way street. You can sign Mullvad nodes so they can be used as exit nodes, but it is impossible to revoke signatures from obsolete/replaced Mullvad nodes (with tailscale clients, you simply delete them from the org which means they have to re-auth and re-join under a new ID ... but you can't do that with the Mullvad integration, so the 'ghost' exit node could easily return). Your only option is to remove the signing node that signed the Mullvad nodes and start again from scratch. Another joke.

So, yeah, "better than nothing" is the way I would summarise "tailscale lock".

[rao-v]

Comically you can sign Tailnet lock from iOS, but it’s an insane workflow.

You need to generate a QR code then scan it from the signing mobile device, which opens a secret menu option to sign (fine just brings up a confirmation dialog).

Incredibly annoying but perhaps more secure vs the threat of randomly tapping at prompts

[traceroute66]

> Comically you can sign Tailnet lock from iOS, but it’s an insane workflow.

Interesting, thanks for pointing out the insane workflow.

Although looking around, footguns still remain in terms of relying too much on iOS and Tailnet Lock, e.g. https://github.com/tailscale/tailscale/issues/20475

[pedrocr]

> If I was an APT, compromising Tailscale would be priority number 1!

Crowdstrike would be at a much higher priority. They already have a cloud connected root console to all the machines in entire corporations. Compromising your network is small potatoes compared to that.