Original code by fm407 (https://github.com/fm407/PIA-NextGen-PortForwarding)

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UPDATE 4.6.2025

For error [PIA-API] Error! Failed to receive Signature! see the #2 for solution

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PIA OpenVPN Port Forwarding + Transmission support

Tested on 2.5.2-RELEASE (amd64) and transmission-daemon 2.94.

Before starting make sure to have configured PIA on your pfSense according to this guide:

https://blog.networkprofile.org/private-internet-access-vpn-on-pfsense/

The scripts have variables that you must change in order for the script to work, make sure to read the scripts before running them.

Your pfSense needs the following packages: xmlstarlet jq (details in step I.8.)

Now you can follow this guide:

I. pfSense side

1.Enable SSH on pfSense
System -> Advanced => tick "Enable Secure Shell"

2.Create custom user
-Go to System -> User manager -> Add
-Fill Username, password
-Add "admins" group
-Grant "WebCfg - All pages" and "User - System: Shell account access" priviledges
-(Optional) generate SSH keys for your custom user

3.Install SUDO package
-Go to System -> Package Manager => install SUDO package
-Go to System -> sudo => create user permissions as bellow

4.Create Alias for port forward
-Go to Firewall -> Aliases -> Ports
-Create new port with name "Transmission_Port"
-Give it the current port (if you have it) or non-zero value

5.Create Alias for Transmission IP address
-Go to Firewall -> Aliases -> IP
-Create new port with name "Transmission_IP"
-Define IP or FQDN of your Transmisson daemon server

6.Create NAT rule for port-forward using the ALIAS instead of specific port/IP
-Go to Firewall -> NAT
-Create new rule like bellow (some values could be different depending on your current VPN configuration)

7.Create custom devd config file
-SSH to the pfSense box with the user created in step 2.

sudo su -
#<enter your user password>
#Enter an option: 8 for shell
mkdir /usr/local/etc/devd
cd /usr/local/etc/devd
vi piaport.conf

-paste following code and save ( :wq )- This will start the service when the PIA interface is up and stop it when down

notify 0 {
        match "system"          "IFNET";
        match "subsystem"       "(ovpnc1)";
        match "type"            "LINK_UP";
        action "logger $subsystem is UP";
        action "service piaportforwarding start";
};

notify 0 {
        match "system"          "IFNET";
        match "subsystem"       "(ovpnc1)";
        match "type"            "LINK_DOWN";
        action "logger $subsystem is DOWN";
        action "service piaportforwarding stop";
};

-Restart devd to properly parse the new definition

service devd restart

Note: The "ovpnc1" is a technical name of the OpenVPN interface from within the pfSense UI

8.Install xmlstarlet and jq packages
-Still under root user from previous step do

perl -pi -e 's/FreeBSD:\ \{\ enabled:\ no/FreeBSD:\ \{\ enabled:\ yes/g' /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/FreeBSD.conf
perl -pi -e 's/FreeBSD:\ \{\ enabled:\ no/FreeBSD:\ \{\ enabled:\ yes/g' /usr/local/share/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo.conf
pkg install xmlstarlet

-Answer "y" to the installation prompts
-jq should be already present (which jq returns path to binary) but in case it is missing install it by pkg install jq

9.Create the custom port-update script
-Still under root user from step 7. do

mkdir -p /home/custom/piaportforward
cd /home/custom/piaportforward
touch pia-pfSense.sh
chmod u+x pia-pfSense.sh
vi pia-pfSense.sh

-Paste the code from https://github.com/fm407/PIA-NextGen-PortForwarding/blob/master/pia-pfSense.sh OR just download it and chmod +x it.
!!! Some customization is necessary. Please read the script. It will need at minimum your PIA user and pass and the Transmission rpc user/pass !!!

Put https://github.com/fm407/PIA-NextGen-PortForwarding/blob/master/pia-portforwarding-rc in /usr/local/etc/rc.d (rename to pia-portforwarding) and chmod +x it or just:

touch /usr/local/etc/rc.d/piaportforwarding
chmod +x /usr/local/etc/rc.d/piaportforwarding
vi /usr/local/etc/rc.d/piaportforwarding

And paste the following in it:

#!/bin/sh

# REQUIRE: LOGIN

. /etc/rc.subr

name="piaportforwarding"
rcvar="${name}_enable"
command="/home/custom/piaportforward/pia-pfSense.sh"
command_interpreter="/bin/sh"
pf_user=root
start_cmd="/usr/sbin/daemon -f -u $pf_user $command"

load_rc_config $name
run_rc_command "$1"

Then:

touch /etc/rc.conf.local
vi /etc/rc.conf.local

And paste the following: piaportforwarding_enable="YES"

-Disconnect form pfSense
-(Optional) Disable SSH via WebUI under System -> Advanced => un-tick "Enable Secure Shell"

II. Transmission host side

-This part is for a Debian 10 host, your mileage may vary depending on the distro you use for your Transmission host.
-If there is something already configured on your side please read the steps anyway just to be sure there are no tiny difference.

1.Secure Transmission RPC Protocol
-STOP the transmission daemon by systemctl stop transmission
-Edit /etc/transmission-daemon/settings.json
-Note that the location of settings.json may vary. The above path is from Debian 10.
-Update/add following parameters. Replace username, password. Ensure that IP address of your pfSense is in whitelist, you can whitelist additional IPs.

"rpc-authentication-required": true,
"rpc-username": "SomeUserName",
"rpc-password": "SomePassword",
"rpc-whitelist": "127.0.0.1,10.10.10.1,10.10.10.5",

-Start the transmission service again systemctl start transmission

2.Restart OpenVPN in pfSense

-Wait for ~15secs and check Status -> System logs to see results

-All OK, port changed