[BUG] Port forwarding with ProtonVPN and gluetun -- Connection status: Firewalled/Disconnected

[LeoMerlino]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Current Behavior

I am running qBittorrent with gluetun. Gluetun is using ProtonVPN and port forwarding and assigns the open port to qBittorrent.
I have tested if qBittorrent can be accessed through the open port with iptables and netcat and packets get received and sent successfully.
For around a week it had been saying "Firewalled" but now it just says "Disconnected".
I have tried with a fresh qBittorrent configuration.

Expected Behavior

qBittorrent connects

Steps To Reproduce

1. Use ProtonVPN port forwarding
2. Check WebUI connection status

Environment

- OS: Debian Trixie
- How docker service was installed: apt-get

CPU architecture

aarch64

Docker creation

services:
  qbittorrent:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/qbittorrent:latest
    container_name: qbittorrent
    depends_on:
      - gluetun
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Etc/UTC
      - WEBUI_PORT=8113
      - TORRENTING_PORT=6881
    volumes:
      - ./appdata:/config
      - ./downloads:/downloads #optional
    stop_grace_period: "10s" #optional
    restart: unless-stopped
    network_mode: "service:gluetun"

  gluetun:
    image: qmcgaw/gluetun
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN
    devices:
      - /dev/net/tun:/dev/net/tun
    ports:
      - 8113:8113
      - 8114:8114
      - 6881:6881
      - 6881:6881/udp
    environment:
      - VPN_SERVICE_PROVIDER=protonvpn
      - VPN_TYPE=wireguard
      - WIREGUARD_PRIVATE_KEY=redacted
      - SERVER_COUNTRIES=Germany
      # - SERVER_COUNTRIES=United Kingdom
      # - SERVER_CITIES=London
      - PORT_FORWARD_ONLY=on
      - FIREWALL_VPN_INPUT_ALLOW=192.168.0.0/24
      - FIREWALL_OUTBOUND_SUBNETS=192.168.0.0/24
      - VPN_PORT_FORWARDING=on
      - VPN_PORT_FORWARDING_UP_COMMAND=/bin/sh -c 'wget -O- -nv --retry-connrefused --post-data "json={\"listen_port\":{{PORT}},\"current_network_interface\":\"{{VPN_INTERFACE}}\",\"random_port\":false,\"upnp\":false}" http://localhost:8113/api/v2/app/setPreferences 2>&1'
      - VPN_PORT_FORWARDING_DOWN_COMMAND=/bin/sh -c 'wget -O- -nv --retry-connrefused --post-data "json={\"listen_port\":0,\"current_network_interface\":\"lo\"}" http://localhost:8113/api/v2/app/setPreferences 2>&1'

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[j0nnymoe]

This is likely going to be related to you gluetun configuration and not qbittorrent.

[LeoMerlino]

@j0nnymoe The qBittorrent container has access to the port and the internet, yet the WebUI is saying otherwise. I don't believe this could be related to gluetun.
If it is physically able to send and receive packets through the port then I would say qBittorrent is having problems.

[j0nnymoe]

Unable to replicate the issue here:

Just to note on this, I'm not running this behind any VPN/Gluetun container, though it is behind a VPN but that's dealt with at router level.

Build Numbers:
Linuxserver.io version: 5.2.3_v2.0.14-ls473
Build-date: 2026-08-23T07:23:17+00:00

[LeoMerlino]

Is there any way I can debug this further? The qBittorrent container logs contained no useful information.

[j0nnymoe]

First test without gluetun, see if you can replicate it that way (open ports on your router etc) then if that works, you know it's related to gluetun.

I could probably make an educated guess (not having used protonvpn) but I suspect you aren't able to use the default torrent port.

[LeoMerlino]

Getting this error in the logs: Failed to update tracker list. Reason: "The connection to the remote server timed out"
However when I test a direct connection through the port, it works fine??

And when I ping an address it also resolves fine:

I really am confused why qBittorrent is failing to connect.
When it says "remote server", what server is it referring to? A tracker? Which tracker!?

[LeoMerlino]

qBittorrent is able to fetch these:

But not connect to trackers?

[j0nnymoe]

Did you test without gluetun? We don't provide support for it so anything related to that, we're unable to help with.

[LeoMerlino]

Just tested without gluetun and just my router. Still a problem.

[LeoMerlino]

Tested again with nc just to check that I didn't make a mistake:

[j0nnymoe]

I don't think this is an issue with the container, if it was, mine wouldn't be working.

I assume you've confirmed the torrent port is changed within qbittorrent to forwarded port that protonvpn is providing for you?

[LeoMerlino]

Yes, I have confirmed the port is correct, and when I just tested the non-VPN setup I also confirmed my router forwarded port (the one I tested with nc to confirm) was set in the qBittorrent ui.