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    Can't login to GUI

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • chudakC
      chudak @stephenw10
      last edited by

      @stephenw10 said in Can't login to GUI:

      Well running that phpshell script will set the dash back to the defaults if needed. Or you can roll back the config if you just added something to the dash.

      I will try rebooting tomorrow

      I have not touched anything at all on the dash, so 🤷🏼‍♂️

      Another issue is - what’s the best way to troubleshoot for users in similar situations. So far no answer yet

      I must tell that today's exchange was useful

      Thx guys!

      GertjanG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        Check the System and Webgui logs. Use the CLI if the webgui is not available at all.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • GertjanG
          Gertjan @chudak
          last edited by

          @chudak said in Can't login to GUI:

          what’s the best way to troubleshoot for users in similar situations.

          As my signature : always start looking at the logs.
          Don't care if the GUI or whatever isn't working : the logs are always (every system on the planet) here : /var/log/
          Logs files are always great : the tell you when the system is happy, you'll learn to see what logs look like if all is well.
          When things go downhill, you'll spot the new lines / messages and these tell you what is up.

          No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
          Edit : and where are the logs ??

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • chudakC
            chudak
            last edited by

            The system is back to normal without me doing anything today !!!

            S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • JonathanLeeJ
              JonathanLee
              last edited by

              There is a GUI security feature that will lock the gui out under some attack conditions. It self locks for a specific time

              Make sure to upvote

              chudakC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • chudakC
                chudak @JonathanLee
                last edited by

                @JonathanLee said in Can't login to GUI:

                There is a GUI security feature that will lock the gui out under some attack conditions. It self locks for a specific time

                Really? And where is it configured and how do I know it was invoked?

                I did run multiple pings from other countries, so it could be treated as an attack, I guess.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  If you fail to login 3 times from the same source IP it will get locked out by sshguard. When that happens you won't be able to connect at all. You won't see the login screen. What you're seeing is not that.

                  https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/config/advanced-admin.html#login-protection

                  JonathanLeeJ chudakC 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • JonathanLeeJ
                    JonathanLee @stephenw10
                    last edited by JonathanLee

                    @stephenw10 I learned that the hard way :)

                    Make sure to upvote

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • chudakC
                      chudak @stephenw10
                      last edited by

                      @stephenw10 said in Can't login to GUI:

                      If you fail to login 3 times from the same source IP it will get locked out by sshguard. When that happens you won't be able to connect at all. You won't see the login screen. What you're seeing is not that.

                      https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/config/advanced-admin.html#login-protection

                      Does it expose any GUI level option?

                      thx it's great!

                      stephenw10S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator @chudak
                        last edited by

                        @chudak said in Can't login to GUI:

                        Does it expose any GUI level option?

                        Not sure what you're asking there?

                        There are tuning options for it in the GUI. You can whitelist IPs to prevent them being blocked.

                        chudakC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • chudakC
                          chudak @stephenw10
                          last edited by

                          @stephenw10 said in Can't login to GUI:

                          @chudak said in Can't login to GUI:

                          Does it expose any GUI level option?

                          Not sure what you're asking there?

                          There are tuning options for it in the GUI. You can whitelist IPs to prevent them being blocked.

                          Where please?

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            In Sys > Adv > Admin. As shown in that linked doc.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • S
                              SteveITS Galactic Empire @chudak
                              last edited by SteveITS

                              @chudak said in Can't login to GUI:

                              The system is back to normal without me doing anything today !!!

                              So you didn't do anything to fix it? Did you ever find a cause?

                              I just ran into what seems like the same thing, on one router. GUI log in succeeds ("... /index.php: Successful login for user 'admin' from...") but I can't get past the login page. I can log in via SSH.

                              I do not see anything useful in system.log or nginx.log, just normal logins and GET/POST. No failed login attempts that I see.

                              Edit: 24.03
                              Edit: trying direct URLs (/firewall_rules.php) still shows the login page

                              Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
                              When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
                              Upvote 👍 helpful posts!

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • stephenw10S
                                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                last edited by

                                Hmm. From multiple browsers and/or client devices?

                                S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • S
                                  SteveITS Galactic Empire @stephenw10
                                  last edited by SteveITS

                                  @stephenw10 said in Can't login to GUI:

                                  Hmm. From multiple browsers and/or client devices?

                                  Well I tried it from a private window in Firefox, and also deleted site/URL cookies in the main window. It does work from Chrome though on my PC. Not sure how that is possible...

                                  Also it works in Firefox if I use a FQDN name, like https://router-building.example.net, or IP address, instead of https://router-building, which I've used for 10+ years.

                                  Edit: closing Firefox doesn't help.

                                  Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
                                  When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
                                  Upvote 👍 helpful posts!

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • stephenw10S
                                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                    last edited by

                                    Hmm, I've seen that if you have multiple firewalls resolving to the same IP. Like one behind the other with port forwards. You can only log into one at a time.

                                    Not exactly what you describe though....

                                    S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • S
                                      SteveITS Galactic Empire @stephenw10
                                      last edited by

                                      @stephenw10 No port forwarding in use here. There are two nested routers (office and building) but with unique IPs.

                                      Given it is URL dependent, it smells like a cookie problem but a private window or deleting cookies should fix that. I have never seen a different browser work differently than a new private window.

                                      Could there be something on the web server end that doesn't release for a while, yet survives a webconfigurator restart? (OP said it fixed itself overnight...)

                                      Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
                                      When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
                                      Upvote 👍 helpful posts!

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • stephenw10S
                                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                        last edited by

                                        Yup it sure does feel like a cookie issue... 🤔

                                        S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • S
                                          SteveITS Galactic Empire @stephenw10
                                          last edited by

                                          Just for the record, today a Firefox private window lets me log in with the "short name" but the regular browser window still does not. So it changed behavior somewhat.

                                          Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
                                          When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
                                          Upvote 👍 helpful posts!

                                          chudakC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • chudakC
                                            chudak @SteveITS
                                            last edited by

                                            @SteveITS said in Can't login to GUI:

                                            Just for the record, today a Firefox private window lets me log in with the "short name" but the regular browser window still does not. So it changed behavior somewhat.

                                            Have you tried killing all associated states?

                                            S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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