Userspace Mode

When the kernel TUN module is unavailable, Tailscale runs in userspace networking mode. This mode provides proxy-based connectivity instead of a virtual network interface.

Enabling Userspace Mode

uci set tailscale.settings.net_mode='userspace'
uci commit tailscale
/etc/init.d/tailscale restart

Or via the CLI:

tailscale-manager net-mode userspace

Proxy Listeners

In userspace mode, the init script automatically enables proxy listeners:

Protocol	Default Address	Port
SOCKS5	localhost:1055	1055
HTTP	localhost:1056	1056

Usage Examples

# SOCKS5 proxy
curl --proxy socks5://localhost:1055 http://100.x.x.x:8080

# HTTP proxy
http_proxy=http://localhost:1056 curl http://100.x.x.x:8080

Proxy Listen Address

By default, the proxy listens on localhost only. To allow LAN devices to use the proxy:

uci set tailscale.settings.proxy_listen='lan'
uci commit tailscale
/etc/init.d/tailscale restart

Value	Behavior
localhost	Proxy available only on the router itself
lan	Proxy available to all devices on the LAN

You can also configure this via the interactive menu: tailscale-manager → Network Mode Settings → Userspace.

Subnet Routing in Userspace Mode

Subnet routing works in userspace mode:

tailscale up
tailscale set --advertise-routes=192.168.1.0/24

Limitations

• The tailscale0 interface is not created — setup-firewall is not needed.
• Supports TCP, UDP, and ICMP (ping), but not all IP protocols.
• Performance is typically lower than kernel TUN mode.