[tor-talk] Hidden Service and exit circuit questions?

[Allen]

> Since there is already an established circuit between the machine running
the Tor service and an exit node, I'm thinking that the exit node may be
able to use the existing circuit to access the HS port over the 3-hop
circuit without ever going through the normal 6-hop rendezvous?

You could check the source code, but I would guess that if a circuit is not
built using the rendezvous protocol, then packets coming in on that circuit
are not forwarded back to the hidden service port on the localhost.  More
generally, packets coming in on any circuit are forward only to the local
port for which the circuit was setup to proxy, i.e., there is no "crosstalk"
between circuits.