Understand GL.iNet 4.8+ Per-Tunnel and Enhanced Kill Switches

GL.iNet VPN Dashboard version 4.8 and later where these controls exist.

Applies to: GL.iNet VPN Dashboard version 4.8 and later where these controls exist.

Checked: 2026-11-01 · Risk: caution · Status: source-grounded editorial draft; not hands-on tested.

Version gate: 4.8+ dashboard semantics, not a universal description of all 4.x versions.

Before you begin

Record tunnel policies and All Other Traffic behavior. Test with non-sensitive traffic. Do not assume that an enabled global switch makes every route fail closed.

Procedure

1. Create or select the authorized VPN tunnel and review which traffic rules match it.
2. Open the tunnel’s gear/options and inspect its own Kill Switch setting.
3. Use the global dashboard settings to inspect Enhanced Kill Switch and All Other Traffic.
4. Treat them separately: the per-tunnel switch governs matched traffic during tunnel failure; Enhanced Kill Switch governs non-matching traffic.
5. Deliberately stop the test tunnel and confirm whether each intended client is blocked or follows an allowed fallback.

Verify the result

Matched, unmatched and tunnel-failure cases each behave according to your documented privacy policy.

Undo or recover

Restore the recorded policies. Reconnect the tunnel before resuming sensitive activity; do not leave a temporary WAN fallback unnoticed.

Stop and escalate

Menu labels in pre-4.8 firmware differ. Use that firmware’s documentation instead of copying this UI flow.

Evidence and interpretation limits

With a tunnel Kill Switch off, failed-tunnel traffic may follow All Other Traffic. Enhanced Kill Switch does not override that per-tunnel choice.

The steps above combine paraphrased official instructions with an original safety and test workflow. They are not a verbatim manual, a guaranteed fix, or evidence of a common hardware defect.

Official sources

• GL.iNet VPN Dashboard: 4.8+ tunnel/global kill switches — gl-vpn-dashboard; access: full_text.

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