ExpressVPN Suspends Split-Tunneling Feature on Windows App Due to Bug
ExpressVPN has temporarily disabled its split-tunneling feature on its Windows app after a bug was discovered that was not properly directing DNS requests to its servers. CNET’s Attila Tomaschek first found the issue and contacted ExpressVPN about it.
In a blog statement, ExpressVPN revealed that the bug affects less than 1% of users on Windows app platform Version 12. The company has deactivated split-tunneling on that platform while engineers work on a fix.
Normally, split-tunneling allows users to choose which apps to route through the VPN and which to keep on the local network. However, due to the bug, some DNS requests for chosen apps were sent to a third-party server instead of the VPN’s servers.
The bug started in May 2022 with version 12.23.1 and continued until February 2024 with version 12.72.0.
ExpressVPN assured users that the bug likely only affected a small percentage of users and only when using the specific split tunneling mode ‘Only allow selected apps to use the VPN.’ Other VPN protections, such as encryption, were not affected.
For now, the split-tunneling feature is disabled, and users can continue using Version 10 of the Windows app if they wish to use split-tunneling.
