VPN L2TP/IPSec – Fix Client Service Failed to Start on Ubuntu 16.04

On Ubuntu 16.04, I've already followed a couple of tutorials to rebuild network-manager, also installed via apt-get install network-manager-l2tp network-manager-l2tp-gnome.

It was working until yesterday, when a random message saying The VPN connection failed because the VPN service failed to start. There is no errors in configuration since the same VPN credentials and host are been using in another Ubuntu, also 16.04, and Windows 8.1.

Looking on /var/log/syslog:

NetworkManager[899]: <info>  [1496143714.1953] audit: op="connection-activate" uuid="cac1651d-9cbd-4989-bc57-b9707ddd012a" name="VPNCS" pid=2295 uid=1000 result="success"
NetworkManager[899]: <info>  [1496143714.1973] vpn-connection[0xa56420,cac1651d-9cbd-4989-bc57-b9707ddd012a,"VPNCS",0]: Started the VPN service, PID 5798
NetworkManager[899]: <info>  [1496143714.2013] vpn-connection[0xa56420,cac1651d-9cbd-4989-bc57-b9707ddd012a,"VPNCS",0]: Saw the service appear; activating connection
NetworkManager[899]: <info>  [1496143714.2760] vpn-connection[0xa56420,cac1651d-9cbd-4989-bc57-b9707ddd012a,"VPNCS",0]: VPN connection: (ConnectInteractive) reply received
NetworkManager[899]: nm-l2tp[5798] <info>  ipsec enable flag: yes
NetworkManager[899]: ** Message: Check port 1701
NetworkManager[899]: nm-l2tp[5798] <info>  starting ipsec
NetworkManager[899]: Stopping strongSwan IPsec...
gnome-session[1843]: X protocol error:
gnome-session[1843]: <class 'Xlib.error.BadWindow'>: code = 3, resource_id = Xlib.xobject.resource.Resource(0x00e003ad), sequence_number = 22167, major_opcode = 33, minor_opcode = 0
gnome-session[1843]: X protocol error:
gnome-session[1843]: <class 'Xlib.error.BadWindow'>: code = 3, resource_id = Xlib.xobject.resource.Resource(0x00e003ad), sequence_number = 22168, major_opcode = 33, minor_opcode = 0
gnome-session[1843]: X protocol error:
gnome-session[1843]: <class 'Xlib.error.BadWindow'>: code = 3, resource_id = Xlib.xobject.resource.Resource(0x00e003ad), sequence_number = 22169, major_opcode = 33, minor_opcode = 0
gnome-session[1843]: X protocol error:
gnome-session[1843]: <class 'Xlib.error.BadWindow'>: code = 3, resource_id = Xlib.xobject.resource.Resource(0x00e003ad), sequence_number = 22170, major_opcode = 33, minor_opcode = 0
gnome-session[1843]: X protocol error:
gnome-session[1843]: <class 'Xlib.error.BadWindow'>: code = 3, resource_id = Xlib.xobject.resource.Resource(0x00e003ad), sequence_number = 22171, major_opcode = 33, minor_opcode = 0
gnome-session[1843]: X protocol error:
gnome-session[1843]: <class 'Xlib.error.BadWindow'>: code = 3, resource_id = Xlib.xobject.resource.Resource(0x00e003ad), sequence_number = 22172, major_opcode = 33, minor_opcode = 0
gnome-session[1843]: X protocol error:
gnome-session[1843]: <class 'Xlib.error.BadWindow'>: code = 3, resource_id = Xlib.xobject.resource.Resource(0x00e003ad), sequence_number = 22173, major_opcode = 33, minor_opcode = 0
gnome-session[1843]: X protocol error:
gnome-session[1843]: <class 'Xlib.error.BadWindow'>: code = 3, resource_id = Xlib.xobject.resource.Resource(0x00e003ad), sequence_number = 22174, major_opcode = 33, minor_opcode = 0
gnome-session[1843]: X protocol error:
gnome-session[1843]: <class 'Xlib.error.BadWindow'>: code = 3, resource_id = Xlib.xobject.resource.Resource(0x00e003ad), sequence_number = 22175, major_opcode = 33, minor_opcode = 0
gnome-session[1843]: X protocol error:
gnome-session[1843]: <class 'Xlib.error.BadWindow'>: code = 3, resource_id = Xlib.xobject.resource.Resource(0x00e003ad), sequence_number = 22176, major_opcode = 33, minor_opcode = 0
gnome-session[1843]: X protocol error:
gnome-session[1843]: <class 'Xlib.error.BadWindow'>: code = 3, resource_id = Xlib.xobject.resource.Resource(0x00e003ad), sequence_number = 22177, major_opcode = 33, minor_opcode = 0
gnome-session[1843]: X protocol error:
gnome-session[1843]: <class 'Xlib.error.BadWindow'>: code = 3, resource_id = Xlib.xobject.resource.Resource(0x00e003ad), sequence_number = 22178, major_opcode = 33, minor_opcode = 0
gnome-session[1843]: X protocol error:
gnome-session[1843]: <class 'Xlib.error.BadWindow'>: code = 3, resource_id = Xlib.xobject.resource.Resource(0x00e003ad), sequence_number = 22179, major_opcode = 33, minor_opcode = 0
gnome-session[1843]: X protocol error:
gnome-session[1843]: <class 'Xlib.error.BadWindow'>: code = 3, resource_id = Xlib.xobject.resource.Resource(0x00e003ad), sequence_number = 22180, major_opcode = 33, minor_opcode = 0
gnome-session[1843]: X protocol error:
gnome-session[1843]: <class 'Xlib.error.BadWindow'>: code = 3, resource_id = Xlib.xobject.resource.Resource(0x00e003ad), sequence_number = 22181, major_opcode = 33, minor_opcode = 0
gnome-session[1843]: X protocol error:
gnome-session[1843]: <class 'Xlib.error.BadWindow'>: code = 3, resource_id = Xlib.xobject.resource.Resource(0x00e003ad), sequence_number = 22182, major_opcode = 33, minor_opcode = 0
NetworkManager[899]: Starting strongSwan 5.5.2 IPsec [starter]...
NetworkManager[899]: Loading config setup
NetworkManager[899]: Loading conn 'cac1651d-9cbd-4989-bc57-b9707ddd012a'
NetworkManager[899]: found netkey IPsec stack
charon: 00[DMN] Starting IKE charon daemon (strongSwan 5.5.2, Linux 4.4.0-78-generic, x86_64)
NetworkManager[899]: nm-l2tp[5798] <warn>  IPsec service is not ready.
NetworkManager[899]: nm-l2tp[5798] <warn>  Could not establish IPsec tunnel.
NetworkManager[899]: (nm-l2tp-service:5798): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: g_dbus_method_invocation_take_error: assertion 'error != NULL' failed
NetworkManager[899]: <info>  [1496143732.4905] vpn-connection[0xa56420,cac1651d-9cbd-4989-bc57-b9707ddd012a,"VPNCS",0]: VPN plugin: state changed: stopped (6)
NetworkManager[899]: <info>  [1496143732.4929] vpn-connection[0xa56420,cac1651d-9cbd-4989-bc57-b9707ddd012a,"VPNCS",0]: VPN plugin: state change reason: unknown (0)
NetworkManager[899]: <info>  [1496143732.4952] vpn-connection[0xa56420,cac1651d-9cbd-4989-bc57-b9707ddd012a,"VPNCS",0]: VPN service disappeared
NetworkManager[899]: <warn>  [1496143732.4971] vpn-connection[0xa56420,cac1651d-9cbd-4989-bc57-b9707ddd012a,"VPNCS",0]: VPN connection: failed to connect: 'Message recipient disconnected from message bus without replying'

I've already tried removing network-manager-l2tp and -gnome packages and reinstalling them but I still have the same error.

Any fix?

Best Answer

I found a solution in developer's repository.

https://github.com/nm-l2tp/network-manager-l2tp/issues/38#issuecomment-303052751

Version 1.2.6 no longer overrides the default IPsec ciphers and I suspect your VPN server is using a legacy cipher newer strongSwan versions consider to be broken.

See the user specified IPsec cipher suites section in the README.md file on how to supplement the strongSwan default ciphers with your own :

https://github.com/nm-l2tp/network-manager-l2tp#user-specified-ipsec-ikev1-cipher-suites

I would recommend installing the ike-scan package to check what ciphers your VPN server is advertising it supports, e.g. :

$ sudo systemctl stop strongswan  
$ sudo ike-scan 123.54.76.9  
Starting ike-scan 1.9 with 1 hosts (http://www.nta-monitor.com/tools/ike-scan/)
123.54.76.9   Main Mode Handshake returned HDR=(CKY-R=5735eb949670e5dd) SA=(Enc=3DES Hash=SHA1 Auth=PSK Group=2:modp1024 LifeType=Seconds LifeDuration(4)=0x00007080)
Ending ike-scan 1.9: 1 hosts scanned in 0.263 seconds (3.80 hosts/sec).  1 returned handshake; 0 returned notify

So with this example where a broken 3DES cipher is advertised, in the advanced section of the IPsec dialog box for version 1.2.6, add the following:

Phase1 Algorithms : 3des-sha1-modp1024
Phase2 Algorithms : 3des-sha1

After all steps try you L2TP connnection, it must be established.

Best Answer

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