Middle Node
The middle node (middle relay) is the second hop in a Tor circuit. It knows only the guard and the exit — not the client IP and not the final destination.
Position in the circuit
Guard → Middle → Exit. The middle removes the second encryption layer and forwards to the exit. It sees neither the source IP nor the destination of the connection.
Why three hops?
Three hops are the standard design: two hops would give a malicious guard+exit pair more chances to correlate. More than three would raise latency sharply without a proportional gain.
Category: Network
This page is a short glossary definition, not a full encyclopedia article. See the Tor glossary A–Z for the rest of the set.