How SHIFROM carries its relay connection inside VLESS+REALITY
Originally published on shifrom.com . SHIFROM is an open-source, end-to-end encrypted messenger designed on the assumption that the network between the device and the relay is hostile. The first app is for Android; iOS and web versions are planned. One of the routes the client can use to reach its relay is VLESS+REALITY, the outer protocol from the Xray-core project, embedded directly in the app.…
SHIFROM is a secure messaging app that allows users to connect to relays using various routes, with one of those routes being VLESS+REALITY, a protocol from the Xray-core project. This note explains how the VLESS+REALITY route is constructed and what it does and does not protect. The SHIFROM app is currently in Alpha 2 stage and has not had an independent audit of its custom protocol composition, which includes X3DH, Double Ratchet, and Sealed Sender over libsodium primitives.
The REALITY protocol makes a proxied connection appear as an ordinary TLS 1.3 session with a well-known website, and the client authenticates using X25519 key agreement and standard TLS 1.3 record encryption. The REALITY route does not hide that a connection exists or its duration and size, and it is not an anonymity system. It is designed to address filtering based on the appearance of the outer TLS flow and may not get past every DPI policy.
The note also explains the different transports and privacy modes available in SHIFROM, including direct WSS, REALITY, Tor, and REST send/poll. The REALITY route forwards only to the relay and does not serve as a general-purpose proxy.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
