Enabling Wireguard tunnel through ADB shell

Question

I'm trying to enable and disable Wireguard tunnels through the ADB shell.

I can see the followings actions and receivers are available :

adb:# dumpsys package com.wireguard.android
...
Receiver Resolver Table:
  Non-Data Actions:
      com.wireguard.android.action.SET_TUNNEL_UP:
        4166aa1 com.wireguard.android/.model.TunnelManager$IntentReceiver filter 631a6bf
          Action: "com.wireguard.android.action.REFRESH_TUNNEL_STATES"
          Action: "com.wireguard.android.action.SET_TUNNEL_UP"
          Action: "com.wireguard.android.action.SET_TUNNEL_DOWN"
      com.wireguard.android.action.REFRESH_TUNNEL_STATES:
        4166aa1 com.wireguard.android/.model.TunnelManager$IntentReceiver filter 631a6bf
          Action: "com.wireguard.android.action.REFRESH_TUNNEL_STATES"
          Action: "com.wireguard.android.action.SET_TUNNEL_UP"
          Action: "com.wireguard.android.action.SET_TUNNEL_DOWN"
      com.wireguard.android.action.SET_TUNNEL_DOWN:
        4166aa1 com.wireguard.android/.model.TunnelManager$IntentReceiver filter 631a6bf
          Action: "com.wireguard.android.action.REFRESH_TUNNEL_STATES"
          Action: "com.wireguard.android.action.SET_TUNNEL_UP"
          Action: "com.wireguard.android.action.SET_TUNNEL_DOWN"
      android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED:
        4f4cb74 com.wireguard.android/.BootShutdownReceiver filter 426c4de
          Action: "android.intent.action.ACTION_SHUTDOWN"
          Action: "android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED"
      android.intent.action.ACTION_SHUTDOWN:
        4f4cb74 com.wireguard.android/.BootShutdownReceiver filter 426c4de
          Action: "android.intent.action.ACTION_SHUTDOWN"
          Action: "android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED"
...

Looking at the package's sourcecode, I see that com.wireguard.android/.model.TunnelManager$IntentReceiver asks for the name of the tunnel to enable/disable to be passed as an extra string :

 val tunnelName = intent.getStringExtra("tunnel") ?: return@launch
 val tunnels = manager.getTunnels()
 val tunnel = tunnels[tunnelName] ?: return@launch

So I tried two different versions of the same command to enable a tunnel named my-tunnel :

adb:# am broadcast -a com.wireguard.android.action.SET_TUNNEL_UP -e tunnel my-tunnel
Broadcasting: Intent { act=com.wireguard.android.action.SET_TUNNEL_UP flg=0x400000 (has extras) }
Broadcast completed: result=0
# am broadcast -a com.wireguard.android.action.SET_TUNNEL_UP -e tunnel my-tunnel -n com.wireguard.android/.model.TunnelManager$IntentReceiver                                                    
Broadcasting: Intent { act=com.wireguard.android.action.SET_TUNNEL_UP flg=0x400000 cmp=com.wireguard.android/.model.TunnelManager (has extras) }
Broadcast completed: result=0

But after checking on my phone my-tunnel is still disabled.

What am I missing ? Note that I'm pretty new to using ADB commands so it might be something obvious.

Answer 1

This is the most reliable way that I have found:

am broadcast -a com.wireguard.android.action.SET_TUNNEL_UP -n 'com.wireguard.android/.model.TunnelManager$IntentReceiver' -e tunnel <tunnel_name>
am broadcast -a com.wireguard.android.action.SET_TUNNEL_DOWN -n 'com.wireguard.android/.model.TunnelManager$IntentReceiver' -e tunnel <tunnel_name>

Notes:

• This only works if adb has root rights.
• You need to enable "Allow remote control apps" under "Advanced" in the settings of the WireGuard app.
• If you also want this to work when the WireGuard app is not running, you need to disable background battery optimizations for the app.