I thought Pi-hole was blocking everything on my network, but IPv6 was letting half my devices walk straight past it
Your Pi-hole might be blocking less than you think, thanks to IPv6
Pi-hole is a popular self-hosting solution that sets and forgets, typically requiring minimal attention. After installation, it takes care of DNS requests from devices on the network. However, a lesser-known issue arises when IPv6 is enabled on the network. Pi-hole only monitors queries reaching it, and any requests sent to other DNS servers go unnoticed.
This can be problematic because, by default, many routers advertise their own IPv6 address and DNS server to devices, bypassing Pi-hole's filtering. Android devices usually rely on RDNSS (router DNS server) for IPv6 DNS settings, while Windows and some Linux distributions prefer DHCPv6-supplied servers when both are provided. Apple's platforms and Linux distributions also have different behaviors, which can lead to unnoticed DNS leaks.
If your router's IPv6 settings allow devices to use a different DNS server, they may bypass Pi-hole and be exposed to ads and trackers. To prevent this, ensure Pi-hole has a stable IPv6 address, or disable IPv6 on the router entirely.
Written by urgent.news from XDA Developers's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
