[Bug 1887604] [NEW] Forward host UNIX socket to guest TCP port

[Ralph G]

Public bug reported:

Hello. I've been racking my brain trying to work out if this is
possible.

I would like to be able to forward to a guest TCP port, via a host UNIX
socket to avoid opening a TCP port on the host. For example:

qemu-system-i386 [...] -nic user,hostfwd=unix:/path/to/socket-:22

and then connect to the VM like:

ssh -o "ProxyCommand socat - unix-connect:/path/to/socket" user@0.0.0.0

QEMU, as versatile as it is, doesn't appreciate my intuited syntax
"hostfwd=unix:...". It is also unhappy with:

qemu-system-i386 [...] \
    -chardev socket,id=foo,path=/path/to/socket,server,nowait \
    -nic user,hostfwd=chardev:foo-:22

And:

qemu-system-i386 [...] \
    -nic user \
    -chardev socket,id=foo,path=/path/to/socket,server,nowait \
    -chardev socket,id=foo,host=10.0.2.15,port=22

I already found out how to connect in the opposite direction, **from**
guest TCP to host UNIX, via guestfwd -> cmd -> socat. So I feel like
there ought to be a way.

If this is not yet a feature I would like to request it, and if it is,
please tell me how!

** Affects: qemu
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: feature-request

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1887604

Title:
  Forward host UNIX socket to guest TCP port

Status in QEMU:
  New

Bug description:
  Hello. I've been racking my brain trying to work out if this is
  possible.

  I would like to be able to forward to a guest TCP port, via a host
  UNIX socket to avoid opening a TCP port on the host. For example:

  qemu-system-i386 [...] -nic user,hostfwd=unix:/path/to/socket-:22

  and then connect to the VM like:

  ssh -o "ProxyCommand socat - unix-connect:/path/to/socket"
  user@0.0.0.0

  QEMU, as versatile as it is, doesn't appreciate my intuited syntax
  "hostfwd=unix:...". It is also unhappy with:

  qemu-system-i386 [...] \
      -chardev socket,id=foo,path=/path/to/socket,server,nowait \
      -nic user,hostfwd=chardev:foo-:22

  And:

  qemu-system-i386 [...] \
      -nic user \
      -chardev socket,id=foo,path=/path/to/socket,server,nowait \
      -chardev socket,id=foo,host=10.0.2.15,port=22

  I already found out how to connect in the opposite direction, **from**
  guest TCP to host UNIX, via guestfwd -> cmd -> socat. So I feel like
  there ought to be a way.

  If this is not yet a feature I would like to request it, and if it is,
  please tell me how!

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