Email Notification - OpenVPN Client Connect (Common Name)

[aasimenator]

Our OpenVPN is using Radius Server synced with Windows Active Directory Domain server for logon. Is there any way this email notification will work in such a scenario?

because currently we only get the following information, username field is blank
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[Gertjan]

@aasimenator

"user_name" ?
"vpn_client_ip" ?

Show the script you are using.

See the example "connect.sh" file above.
The scripts file is called with a bunch of pre defined environment variable set.
Ask Google how to print all the environment variables when it starts. Normally, if known, a variable like "common_name" should contain the name.

[aasimenator]

@gertjan

my connect.sh is exactly what you mentioned in the post above 1646309481558

i just changed the name from notify.sh to connect.sh and left disconnect.sh as is.

/root/connect.sh file:

#!/usr/local/bin/php -q
<?php
	require_once("/etc/inc/notices.inc");
	$local_connect_value = " user_name: " . getenv('common_name') . " vpn_client_ip: " . getenv('ifconfig_pool_remote_ip') . " on " . date('F j, Y, g:i a');
	log_error("About to send a mail : Connecting");
	notify_all_remote($local_connect_value);
?>

/root/disconnect.sh file:

#!/usr/local/bin/php -q
<?php
	require_once("/etc/inc/notices.inc");
	$local_connect_value .= ", during : " . getenv('time_duration') . " seconds, received : " . getenv('bytes_received') . " bytes, send : " . getenv('bytes_sent') ." bytes. DISCONNRECTED.";
	log_error("About to send a mail : Disconnecting");
	notify_all_remote($local_connect_value);
?>

[Gertjan]

@aasimenator

Looks ok.
What happens - I think - is that when LDAP is used, the common_name environment isn't set as it isn't known. So getenv('common_name') return 'nothing' or an empty string.

I've never used LDAP, so I can't be sure.

edit : again : have all the env variables printed, and see what's in there.

[aasimenator]

@gertjan said in Email Notification - OpenVPN Client Connect (Common Name):

have all the env variables printed, and see what's in there.

How do you do that?

[Gertjan]

@aasimenator

PHP getenv()

I created a small test file /root/test.php :

#!/usr/local/bin/php -q
<?php
print_r(getenv(), $output);
echo $output;
?>

Now (made it executable) :
./test.php

works for me.

Array
(
    [SSH_CLIENT] => 192.168.1.2 59841 22
    [LOGNAME] => root
    [MAIL] => /var/mail/root
    [PATH] => /sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/root/bin
    [PWD] => /root
    [TERM] => xterm
    [SSH_TTY] => /dev/pts/0
    [USER] => root
    [HOME] => /root
    [SSH_CONNECTION] => 192.168.1.2 59841 192.168.1.1 22
    [SHELL] => /bin/sh
    [BLOCKSIZE] => K
    [HOSTTYPE] => FreeBSD
    [VENDOR] => amd
    [OSTYPE] => FreeBSD
    [MACHTYPE] => x86_64
    [SHLVL] => 1
    [GROUP] => wheel
    [HOST] => pfsense.munetwork.net
    [REMOTEHOST] => 192.168.1.2
    [CLICOLOR] => true
    [LSCOLORS] => exfxcxdxbxegedabagacad
)

This was just a test - my script file

Add $output to the $local_connect_value string, and have it mailed to you.
Or log it :

#!/usr/local/bin/php -q
<?php
	require_once("/etc/inc/notices.inc");
	$local_connect_value = " user_name: " . getenv('common_name') . " vpn_client_ip: " . getenv('ifconfig_pool_remote_ip') . " on " . date('F j, Y, g:i a');
	print_r(getenv(), $output);
	log_error($output);
	log_error("About to send a mail : Connecting");
	notify_all_remote($local_connect_value);
?>

[aasimenator]

@gertjan
after changing the connect.sh file to your updated example i am not getting any new information in the email.
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And this is what i see in the status of the VPN connection
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[Gertjan]

@aasimenator said in Email Notification - OpenVPN Client Connect (Common Name):

i am not getting any new information in the email.

Because the variable $output was send to the local log, the most important screens in pfSense are the logs.
At the same place you will also have this line : Status > System Logs > System > General

About to send a mail : Connecting

That's what

log_error("About to send a mail : Connecting");

is all about.
It logs an 'error' which is actually just an incontinent text message.to the logs.

Same thing for the variables your looking for : check the logs.

The output string $output can be added to $local_connect_value string, why not.

[aasimenator]

@gertjan 🔒 Log in to view
No information in the logs near the Connecting message

[Gertjan]

@aasimenator

There it is :

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Never the less : nothing.
Unbelievable but I had to Google it up.

Change

	print_r(getenv(), $output);

to

        $output = print_r(getenv(), true);

I've tested it.
It shows a lot of info.
One of them is the :

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[aasimenator]

@gertjan Thank you so much for that. It seems to have worked and I could get all the information needed to get the data out in an email.

The only difference when using LDAP / Radius server in the getenv was changing ('common_name') to ('username')

In hindsight, I think maybe having the following option enabled in the OpenVPN config might have done the trick.
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I do have a follow-up question, is there any way we can format the email better? e.g. newlines instead of everything in 1 line, I already tried \n or \r\n and even /n but none of them seem to work.

[Gertjan]

@aasimenator said in Email Notification - OpenVPN Client Connect (Common Name):

is there any way we can format the email better?

The small script file, see above, used by OpenVPN on a 'connect' event is written using PHP.
You can also use bash / sh / python / lua / or any high level copiled C or whatever ......

Use any language you like.

[boggie1688]

Anyone's scripts just stop working?

I noticed sometime after August these scripts stopped working on my pfsense box. Not sure what is going on.

[Gertjan]

@boggie1688
There is a boatload of info present - above, to debug.
Can you say more as :

@boggie1688 said in Email Notification - OpenVPN Client Connect (Common Name):

scripts stopped

[boggie1688]

@gertjan said in Email Notification - OpenVPN Client Connect (Common Name):

@boggie1688
There is a boatload of info present - above, to debug.
Can you say more as :

@boggie1688 said in Email Notification - OpenVPN Client Connect (Common Name):

scripts stopped

Not sure where to start.

I've been using the same script for year or two and suddenly I stopped getting emails when I connect or disconnect. I haven't changed the scripts so I'm not entirely sure what would cause the lack of emails.

Given I changed nothing, I wondering if anyone experienced the same.

[Gertjan]

@boggie1688

I haven't used what's being described here for a long time, as I'm the only one using my VPN access, and I already know when I am connected when I'm connected ;)

But :

I've added the third, "client-connect" line to the VPN server custom config :

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I've created a file called /root/vpn.sh :

#!/usr/local/bin/php -q
<?php
	require_once("/etc/inc/notices.inc");
	$local_connect_value = " user_name: " . getenv('common_name') . " vpn_client_ip: " . getenv('ifconfig_pool_remote_ip') . " from: " . getenv('trusted_ip') . " on " . date('F j, Y, g:i a');
	if ( strrchr (__FILE__ , 'disconnect') ) {
	$local_connect_value .= ", duration : " . getenv('time_duration') . " seconds, received : " . getenv('bytes_received') . " bytes, send : " . getenv('bytes_sent') ." bytes. DISCONNECTED.";
	}
	notify_all_remote($local_connect_value);
?>

and made it executable :

chmod +x /root/vpn.sh

Now, when I connect, I see in the system log :

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and I received the mail ....

As you said, nothing changed ;)

That is ..... there is something 'bad' going on.
I've changed the VPN server settings, so I had a look at the VPN server (re) startup log.
( never change settings without looking at the logs afterswards - and if you don't
And there was a warning :

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This means that my client-connect overrides another client-connect !! So pfSense is also using the "client-connect" VPN server config command.
Let's check the OpenVPN server config file : /var/etc/openvpn/config.ovpn :

...
client-connect /usr/local/sbin/openvpn.attributes.sh
client-disconnect /usr/local/sbin/openvpn.attributes.sh
...
client-connect /root/vpn.sh

that's bad indeed.
I've removed my custom config line

client-connect /root/vpn.sh

as something tells me its better that :

client-connect /usr/local/sbin/openvpn.attributes.sh

is used as pfSense 'needs' it to work, to do what it has to do.

So, for now, forget about using "client-connect" in the custom config to have it call your own script (to send a mail or whatever).
It will 'break' other functionality.

When I look at /usr/local/sbin/openvpn.attributes.sh, I can see stuff is done with certs, and subsequent files like /usr/local/sbin/openvpn.connect_async.sh does session stuff, and also logs :

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Sending a mail would mean we have to "patch" this (these) files.

[boggie1688]

@gertjan

Thanks for the detailed reply.

I very much appreciate it.

I've never checked the system logs, so I learned something new today.

[JeGr]

@gertjan said in Email Notification - OpenVPN Client Connect (Common Name):

/usr/local/sbin/openvpn.attributes.sh

You are right with this @Gertjan

The script actually triggers another one depending on either being called at connect or disconnect:
/usr/bin/nohup /usr/local/sbin/openvpn.connect_async.sh

And that one is no small script! I digged through it for a bit and found it handles things like logging in syslog (e.g. calls logger to log the conn/disconn into openvpns logs) but it also does a bit of householding tasks.
At disconnect it kills the states of the VPN client was previously using so another caller getting that IP wouldn't have states already attached (multiple pfctl -k / -K calls).
But even more serious, it also seems to handle the connection limit setting or duplicate connections. So in overriding the script with a custom logging, you perhaps disable various features that you configured in the VPN server beforehand.

So all in all I wouldn't recommend replacing the client-(dis)connect scripts with own versions.

What would perhaps be possible is writing a quick patch for the caller-script /usr/local/sbin/openvpn.attributes.sh where the async script is called and insert another script (e.g. like @Gertjan /root/vpn.sh) into there. But that would have to be checked for, as the script calls various function via the OpenVPN "deferred" connection method and handles the deferring in the async script.

So I guess one could think about that one:

# Signal deferred handler
if [ "${script_type}" = "client-connect" ]; then
        /bin/echo 2 > "${client_connect_deferred_file}"
        if [ -f /tmp/"${common_name}" ]; then
                /bin/cat /tmp/"${common_name}" > "${client_connect_config_file}"
                /bin/rm /tmp/"${common_name}"
        fi
fi

###
--> insert HERE <--
###

# Handle 'client-connect' and 'client-disconnect'
/usr/bin/nohup /usr/local/sbin/openvpn.connect_async.sh > /dev/null &

# Signal "deferred handler started OK" for client-connect
exit 0

and to insert a small block with a check wether it's called by connect or disconnect state. But that would have to be tested first.

Cheers
\jens

[bingo600]

We ought to get Netgate to insert some "Official hooks" for User initiated connect/disconnect
ie.

if [ -x "/root/OpenVPN-User-Clientconnect.sh" ]; then

if [ -x "/root/OpenVPN-User-Clientdisconnect.sh" ]; then

I'm using these scripts too , and haven't noticed the consequence , until Gertjan pointed it out

/Bingo

[Gertjan]

@bingo600 said in Email Notification - OpenVPN Client Connect (Common Name):

We ought to get Netgate to insert some "Official hooks" for User initiated connect/disconnect

I saw Jimp answering a comparable question a couple of days ago : implementing a hook for a user created script file : he doesn't "like it", as such a script could run with root rights, thus control the entire system.
The situation right now isn't that bad : the admin that knows what he is doing :

1. Can patch a pfSense script file with a test "if /root/myopenvpnscript.sh" file exist, and "if it is executable" and if both are ok, call it. (you could build a diff patch for this to make live easier)
2. Write their own /root/myopenvpnscript.sh

The user that can do both things will also know how to update, maintain, and re implement this functionality after a pfSense update.
Permitting lamda users to write their own script files ..... => scary.

Look here, last message, what happens when people use home made script / config files , and people forget about it .... https://forum.netgate.com/topic/175234/recent-pppoe-issues-not-auto-reconnecting-for-some-reason-used-to/9?_=1666084459780

edit : just to be clear : I'm not against the idea, of course.