socat

Secure communication over the network is essential, especially when sensitive data is transmitted between a client and a server. Using tools like socat, a multipurpose relay for bidirectional data transfer, we can create secure pathways with features like TLS (Transport Layer Security), ensuring that the data remains private and integral. This blog article will cover how to use socat to set up a TLS tunnel with mutual authentication, ensuring both the client and the server verify each other's identities before establishing a connection.

In today's connected world, secure communication is more critical than ever. Tools like socat (SOcket CAT) play a vital role in network debugging and data exchange by proxying and capturing traffic. A particularly useful feature of socat is its ability to handle TLS termination, enabling secure transfers even across unsecured networks. In this article, we will explore how to use socat to proxy traffic between ports with TLS termination. A: socat is a command line utility that establishes two bidirectional byte streams and transfers data between them. Because each stream can be a file, a pipe, a device (serial line etc.), a socket (UNIX, IP4, IP6 - raw, UDP, TCP), an SSL socket, proxy CONNECT connection, etc.

Socat (SOcket CAT) is a potent and versatile networking tool that allows for bidirectional data transfer between two independent data channels. These channels can be files, pipes, devices (terminal or modem, etc.), or sockets (UNIX, IPv4, IPv6, raw, datagram, etc.). Often likened to the Swiss Army knife for TCP/IP protocols, socat is a utility for data relay between two interactive processes or to initiate TCP and UDP connections for testing purposes or otherwise. In this article, we will explore how to install Socat on different Linux distributions using different package managers like apt, dnf, and zypper. We’ll also delve into some basic use cases to showcase its versatility.