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    Getting error on "data-ciphers" line on OVPN client

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved OpenVPN
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    • D
      dirtyfreebooter
      last edited by

      I found that the latest OpenVPN client exporter updates generates OpenVPN 2.5 configs even on pfSense 2.4.5-p1 and when the OpenVPN server is still version 2.4x

      I had to check don't include 2.5 config options

      6db4be9c-0e98-4107-81f5-5d354fe1b637-image.png

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
      • jimpJ
        jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
        last edited by

        You shouldn't blindly include all the AES algorithms. Stick to the GCM and CBCs. Most likely explanation is that your client platform doesn't support one or more of the ciphers.

        The client export generates OpenVPN 2.5 configs because it exports OpenVPN 2.5 installers, so that's probably OK (provided your client platform is running OpenVPN 2.5...)

        Your log message does say your client is OpenVPN 2.4.9, though, so you probably do need to update the client to one that uses OpenVPN 2.5.0 or tick the Legacy box and export again.

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        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • D
          dirtyfreebooter
          last edited by

          yea, the error message said,

          ... config.ovpn:4: data-ciphers (2.4.9)
          

          so I assumed his client was 2.4.9 and not 2.5, but yea, that is a lot of ciphers as well to enable... yea, easiest just to stick GCM/CBC like @jimp said

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • P
            PCOL IT Admin
            last edited by

            Thanks for the help, folks!

            I upgraded Tunnelblick to 3.8.5beta01 (build 5610), which has OpenVPN 2.5 (also had to set "OpenVPN version" drop in Settings to "Latest", which is OpenVPN 2.5.0 w/ OpenSSL 1.1.1h)

            Also edited my client config, it is now:

            dev tun
            persist-tun
            persist-key
            data-ciphers AES-128-CBC:AES-192-CBC:AES-192-CFB:AES-192-OFB:AES-256-CBC:AES-256-CFB:AES-256-OFB
            data-ciphers-fallback AES-128-CBC
            auth SHA256
            tls-client
            client
            resolv-retry infinite
            remote vpn-gw.mycompany.com 1194 udp4
            verify-x509-name "vpn-gw.mycompany.com" name
            auth-user-pass
            remote-cert-tls server
            

            Now I do get connected, but I do not have a route to the remote LAN, just one for the VPN network itself (local LAN is 192.168.100.0/24, OVPN network is 192.168.5.0/24, and remote LAN is 192.168.10.0/24):

            mymac:~ me$ netstat -nr -f inet | grep -v -e I -e "/32"
            Routing tables
            
            Destination        Gateway            Flags        Netif Expire
            default            192.168.100.1      UGSc           en0
            127                127.0.0.1          UCS            lo0
            127.0.0.1          127.0.0.1          UH             lo0
            169.254            link#4             UCS            en0      !
            192.168.5          192.168.5.2        UGSc         utun6
            192.168.5.2        192.168.5.2        UH           utun6
            192.168.100        link#4             UCS            en0      !
            224.0.0/4          link#4             UmCS           en0      !
            

            The end of the Tunnelblick log has:

                                       13:05:17 *Tunnelblick:  Start of output from client.up.tunnelblick.sh
                                       WARNING: $route_vpn_gateway is empty
                                       13:05:19 *Tunnelblick:  NOTE: No network configuration changes need to be made.
                                       13:05:19 *Tunnelblick:  WARNING: Will NOT monitor for other network configuration changes.
                                       13:05:19 *Tunnelblick:  WARNING: Will NOT disable IPv6 settings.
                                       13:05:19 *Tunnelblick:  DNS servers '192.168.100.1' will be used for DNS queries when the VPN is active
                                       13:05:19 *Tunnelblick:  NOTE: The DNS servers do not include any free public DNS servers known to Tunnelblick. This may cause DNS queries to fail or be intercepted or falsified even if they are directed through the VPN. Specify only known public DNS servers or DNS servers located on the VPN network to avoid such problems.
                                       13:05:19 *Tunnelblick:  Flushed the DNS cache via dscacheutil
                                       13:05:19 *Tunnelblick:  /usr/sbin/discoveryutil not present. Not flushing the DNS cache via discoveryutil
                                       13:05:19 *Tunnelblick:  Notified mDNSResponder that the DNS cache was flushed
                                       13:05:19 *Tunnelblick:  Notified mDNSResponderHelper that the DNS cache was flushed
                                       13:05:19 *Tunnelblick:  End of output from client.up.tunnelblick.sh
                                       13:05:19 *Tunnelblick:  **********************************************
            2020-11-24 13:05:19.792773 Initialization Sequence Completed
            2020-11-24 13:05:19.792939 MANAGEMENT: >STATE:1606241119,CONNECTED,SUCCESS,192.168.5.2,71.xxx.xxx.xxx,1194,,
            2020-11-24 13:05:21.018480 *Tunnelblick: Routing info stdout:
               route to: 192.168.100.1
            destination: 192.168.100.1
              interface: en0
                  flags: <UP,HOST,DONE,LLINFO,WASCLONED,IFSCOPE,IFREF,ROUTER>
             recvpipe  sendpipe  ssthresh  rtt,msec    rttvar  hopcount      mtu     expire
                   0         0         0         0         0         0      1500      1116 
            stderr:
            
            2020-11-24 13:05:21.018824 *Tunnelblick: Warning: DNS server address 192.168.100.1 is not a public IP address and is not being routed through the VPN.
            
            
            2020-11-24 13:05:26.193775 *Tunnelblick: This computer's apparent public IP address (71.zzz.zzz.zzz) was unchanged after the connection was made
            

            So it seems I may be missing some needed entries yet on the pfSense (server) side? I made the OVPN config on pfSense via the wizard.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • D
              dirtyfreebooter
              last edited by dirtyfreebooter

              I know its 20 min long these days, but worth a watch and goes over all this settings, including routing to your local network: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgielyUFGeQ

              Are you probably missing server settings for IPv4 Local network(s) and IPv6 Local network(s)

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • O
                olivluca
                last edited by

                I'm having this problem even with the 2.5.0 client on windows.

                2021-05-12 08:13:40 OpenVPN 2.5.0 x86_64-w64-mingw32 [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [LZ4] [PKCS11] [AEAD] built on Oct 28 2020
                ....
                2021-05-12 08:13:54 OPTIONS ERROR: failed to negotiate cipher with server.  Add the server's cipher ('AES-128-CBC') to --data-ciphers (currently 'AES-128-GCM') if you want to connect to this server.
                

                the generated ovpn file has

                data-ciphers AES-128-GCM
                data-ciphers-fallback AES-128-CBC
                

                if I mark the "legacy client" option it changes to

                cipher AES-128-CBC
                

                and the client can connect.
                It seems the client is ignoring the data-ciphers-fallback option.

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

                  Command line pfSense :

                  openvpn --help
                  

                  The first line tells you that the latest pfSense (2.5.1) is using

                  OpenVPN 2.5.1 amd64-portbld-freebsd12.2 [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [LZ4] [MH/RECVDA] [AEAD] built on Apr  5 2021
                  

                  I only export settings from pfSense, not the 'executable Windows OpenVPON Installer package', I download the latest OpebVPN client from OpenVPN (it's also open source).

                  Get it from here : https://openvpn.net/community-downloads/

                  Like pfSense, don't stay on "2.5.0". OpenVPN had issues to, so they went to 2.5.1 to stabilised, for now, on 2.5.2.
                  The 2.5.2 client works fine with the OpenVPN server 2.5.1 on pfSense.

                  Btw : It's just pure coincidence that OpenVPN uses nearly identical version numbers as the CE version of pfSense.

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

                  O 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • O
                    olivluca @Gertjan
                    last edited by

                    @gertjan thank you, but for me and my users the all in one installer is more convenient. I didn't know that openvpn 2.5.0 had issues.

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

                      @gertjan said in Getting error on "data-ciphers" line on OVPN client:

                      Get it from here : https://openvpn.net/community-downloads/

                      I just tried with the 2.5.2 openvpn client and it has the same problem:

                      Wed May 12 10:14:28 2021 OpenVPN 2.5.2 i686-w64-mingw32 [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [LZ4] [PKCS11] [AEAD] built on Apr 21 2021
                      ....
                      Wed May 12 10:16:22 2021 OPTIONS ERROR: failed to negotiate cipher with server.  Add the server's cipher ('AES-128-CBC') to --data-ciphers (currently 'AES-128-GCM') if you want to connect to this server.
                      
                      
                      O 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • O
                        olivluca @olivluca
                        last edited by

                        maybe it's because I'm still with pfSense 2.4.5p1 that has openvpn 2.4.9 (I cannot upgrade to 2.5.1 due to its problems with NAT and multi WAN)

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

                          @olivluca said in Getting error on "data-ciphers" line on OVPN client:

                          openvpn 2.5.0 had issues.

                          As pfSEnse, they have a FAQ, manual, forum etc.
                          Yes, they have issues - like any other huge (OpenVPN is huge ....) (software) product.

                          The shift from 2.4.x to 2.5.x has special help pages, with all the details about these changes.

                          If you use OpenVPN, don't hesistate. Bookmark this one - and use it.

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

                          O 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • O
                            olivluca @Gertjan
                            last edited by

                            @gertjan said in Getting error on "data-ciphers" line on OVPN client:

                            Yes, they have issues - like any other huge (OpenVPN is huge ....) (software) product.

                            Sure, but I didn't mean it like that, I was referring to the interaction with the "client export" generated settings. Anyway, the latest release of openvpn has the same problem.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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