OpenVPN client fatal error
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We have an OpenVPN server + several clients that form a site-to-site VPN that have been working well for over a year. Each site is using an SG-3100 running pfSense 2.4.4-RELEASE-p3.
Recently one of the clients will disconnect intermittently (a few days or weeks between incidents), with the following error on the client side:
Jan 8 08:12:44 firewall openvpn[49806]: Assertion failed at crypto.c:258 (cipher_ctx_final(ctx->cipher, BEND(&work), &outlen)) Jan 8 08:12:44 firewall openvpn[49806]: Exiting due to fatal error
On the server side, the only log entry around that same time is the following:
Jan 8 08:14:45 firewall openvpn[16421]: xxxxxxxx/x.x.x.x:1194 [xxxxxxxx] Inactivity timeout (--ping-restart), restarting
The users at the client site will reboot the device to restore access.
On the server side, we are also seeing the following types of errors, even when the client tunnel is working:
Jan 8 09:11:20 firewall openvpn[16421]: xxxxxxxx/x.x.x.x:1194 Authenticate/Decrypt packet error: bad packet ID (may be a replay): [ #633636 ] -- see the man page entry for --no-replay and --replay-window for more info or silence this warning with --mute-replay-warnings
Below is the server config:
dev ovpns1 verb 1 dev-type tun dev-node /dev/tun1 writepid /var/run/openvpn_server1.pid #user nobody #group nobody script-security 3 daemon keepalive 10 60 ping-timer-rem persist-tun persist-key proto udp4 cipher AES-128-CBC auth SHA256 up /usr/local/sbin/ovpn-linkup down /usr/local/sbin/ovpn-linkdown local x.x.x.x engine cryptodev tls-server server 172.16.0.0 255.255.255.0 client-config-dir /var/etc/openvpn-csc/server1 ifconfig 172.16.0.1 172.16.0.2 tls-verify "/usr/local/sbin/ovpn_auth_verify tls 'xxxxxxxx-openvpn' 1" lport 1194 management /var/etc/openvpn/server1.sock unix push "route 10.1.0.0 255.255.255.0" route 10.1.1.0 255.255.255.0 route 10.1.2.0 255.255.255.0 route 10.1.3.0 255.255.255.0 route 10.1.5.0 255.255.255.0 route 10.1.6.0 255.255.255.0 route 10.1.7.0 255.255.255.0 route 192.168.2.0 255.255.255.0 ca /var/etc/openvpn/server1.ca cert /var/etc/openvpn/server1.cert key /var/etc/openvpn/server1.key dh /etc/dh-parameters.2048 crl-verify /var/etc/openvpn/server1.crl-verify tls-auth /var/etc/openvpn/server1.tls-auth 0 ncp-disable topology subnet
Below is the client config:
dev ovpnc1 verb 1 dev-type tun dev-node /dev/tun1 writepid /var/run/openvpn_client1.pid #user nobody #group nobody script-security 3 daemon keepalive 10 60 ping-timer-rem persist-tun persist-key proto udp4 cipher AES-128-CBC auth SHA256 up /usr/local/sbin/ovpn-linkup down /usr/local/sbin/ovpn-linkdown local x.x.x.x engine cryptodev tls-client client lport 1194 management /var/etc/openvpn/client1.sock unix remote x.x.x.x 1194 ifconfig 172.16.0.2 172.16.0.1 route 10.1.0.0 255.255.255.0 route 10.1.1.0 255.255.255.0 route 10.1.2.0 255.255.255.0 route 10.1.5.0 255.255.255.0 route 10.1.6.0 255.255.255.0 route 10.1.7.0 255.255.255.0 route 192.168.2.0 255.255.255.0 route 172.16.9.0 255.255.255.0 ca /var/etc/openvpn/client1.ca cert /var/etc/openvpn/client1.cert key /var/etc/openvpn/client1.key crl-verify /var/etc/openvpn/client1.crl-verify tls-auth /var/etc/openvpn/client1.tls-auth 1 ncp-disable resolv-retry infinite topology subnet
I haven't been able to locate any related reports of such an issue. Any ideas would be welcomed. Thanks.
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@pfsenser_ca said in OpenVPN client fatal error:
Any ideas would be welcomed.
I would do this for the first time:
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/releases/2-4-5-p1.html
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We updated both endpoints to 2.4.5_1 this weekend. Will see how the VPN performs this week. Thanks.
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@pfsenser_ca said in OpenVPN client fatal error:
Will see how the VPN performs this week. Thanks.
I would even change the "cipher" to AES-256-GCM, if not too much work because of the endpoints....
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We experienced the same issue again today, only 2 days after updating the systems. The error message on the client side is slightly different now:
Jan 12 14:27:33 firewall openvpn[47886]: cipher_ctx_update: EVP_CipherUpdate() failed Jan 12 14:27:33 firewall openvpn[47886]: Exiting due to fatal error
There is a single previous report of this issue noted here:
https://forum.netgate.com/topic/133889/openvpn-sometimes-stops-working-with-cipher_ctx_update-evp_cipherupdate-failed/4
Those users also reported the issue on an SG-3100 but no clear resolution.
Our OpenVPN client is set to use "BSD cryptodev engine" currently, so we might try changing that to "None" to see if it helps.
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@pfsenser_ca said in OpenVPN client fatal error:
Our OpenVPN client is set to use "BSD cryptodev engine" currently
This is definitely not a problem, at least I never met that (we have 100 - 120 OpenVPN clients- with BSD crypto)
Try even these steps:
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NCP disabling (if it is checked)
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cipher change AES-256-GCM (GCM is faster and safer anyway, in principle)
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