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What Are Private IP Address Ranges, and Why Do They Matter for VPNs?

RFC 1918 private IPv4 addresses are reusable across networks. See the exact ranges and understand why overlapping subnets complicate VPN routing.
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Private IPv4 addresses are three reserved ranges—10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12 and 192.168.0.0/16—intended for use inside networks rather than as globally unique Internet addresses. They matter for VPNs because two networks can reuse the same address, making routes to devices on the other side ambiguous. A VPN can encrypt traffic, but it cannot make overlapping addresses unambiguous by itself.

What counts as a private IPv4 address?

RFC 1918 reserves three IPv4 blocks for private networks. The ranges can be reused by different homes, businesses and other organizations; an address is unique only within a network or cooperating group of networks. The Internet Engineering Task Force’s RFC 1918 records these allocations:

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CIDR block Address range
10.0.0.0/8 10.0.0.0–10.255.255.255
172.16.0.0/12 172.16.0.0–172.31.255.255
192.168.0.0/16 192.168.0.0–192.168.255.255

The middle block is often misstated: only 172.16 through 172.31 are private under RFC 1918, not every address beginning with 172. These ranges can be assigned internally without coordination with an Internet registry. Private addressing describes where an address is meaningful and how it is routed; it does not encrypt traffic, make a user anonymous, or set firewall permissions.

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How private addresses reach the Internet

A private address does not provide a host with direct IP connectivity to outside networks. A gateway can mediate communication with external services; Network Address Translation (NAT) is a common example. The gateway’s role does not turn the private address into a globally unique one.

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Why overlapping private ranges cause VPN trouble

A site-to-site VPN connects networks, so its routers need routes that distinguish destinations on the local network from destinations at the remote site. If both sites use 192.168.1.0/24, the address 192.168.1.20 exists on both sides. A router may treat traffic for that address as local instead of sending it through the tunnel, or the network may need deliberate routing or address translation to resolve the conflict.

The precise symptom depends on the VPN endpoints and routing configuration; overlapping ranges do not produce one universal failure mode. The underlying issue is that the same private address can refer to different devices in separate networks, as RFC 1918 permits.

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Check for overlap before connecting networks

  • Compare prefixes, not just device addresses. Check the home, office, cloud and partner networks that need to communicate across the VPN. Two subnets overlap when they include the same addresses, even if the routers themselves have different addresses.
  • Consider future connections. Common defaults can collide if an organization later adds a site, merges networks or connects to a partner.
  • Confirm operational support. Routers, VPN endpoints, DNS and applications all need to support the chosen address family and routes.
  • If a conflict already exists, options include renumbering a network or configuring a deliberate routing or address-translation design. The right remedy depends on the equipment and which devices need to communicate.

IPv6 Unique Local Addresses and VPNs

IPv6 has Unique Local Addresses (ULAs), defined in RFC 4193. The format uses the fc00::/7 prefix, and pseudo-random Global IDs are intended to make collisions between independently numbered sites less likely. ULAs are for local communication and are not expected to be globally routed.

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RFC 4193 says local IPv6 addresses can be used for inter-site VPNs when appropriate routes are configured, and discusses their use when networks may overlap, merge or be renumbered. That is a standards-defined option, not a guarantee that every VPN product or application supports every IPv6 setup.

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Is 100.64.0.0/10 another private range?

No. 100.64.0.0/10 is Shared Address Space specified by RFC 6598, principally for service-provider infrastructure such as numbering connections between carrier-grade NAT (CGN) equipment and customer-premises equipment. It is not a fourth RFC 1918 block or a general-purpose private LAN range. It is not globally routable, and the standard limits its use to provider networks or equipment able to translate when identical ranges appear on different interfaces.

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Private addressing is separate from VPN security

Private ranges answer an addressing and routing question: which network can use an address, and where should traffic for it go? A VPN’s encryption, authentication and access controls are separate matters. Choosing a private range does not by itself secure a connection, and using a VPN does not automatically resolve duplicate subnets.

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