VPNC connection consistently fails to connect (no shared secrets)

[Michael Cook]

I have two VPN Cisco connections to attempt to connect to. Connection 1 worked about 5 days ago and now consistently doesn't work. Connection 2 is a new proflie I've tried to set up today.

Both fail with "no shared secrets" or other cryptic (sometimes silent) errors which appear in syslog.

I've read numerous blogs & bug reports circa 2008 and not found anything successful. I dont know if something recently has broken this area of networking? I've tried clearing the password store, uninstalling, reinstalling vpnc and the profiles to no avail.

Running Ubuntu 9.10 with latest patches. The following is the end of hte syslog with two VPN related errors... after a reboot, the import of a profile (which works in the past on Windows & Linux), and two attempts to connect.

I'd appreciate if the community can let me know if there is a problem wiith the VPN networking in Ubuntu recently or something likely specific to my installation. This DID work 90% of the time prior to this week. Nothing has changed as far as I know... except for some updates to Ubuntu.

ar 27 21:24:49 computer NetworkManager: <info> Activation (ra0) Stage 5 of 5 (IP Configure Commit) complete.
Mar 27 21:24:50 computer ntpdate[2290]: adjust time server 91.189.94.4 offset 0.078738 sec
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> Starting VPN service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.vpnc'...
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> VPN service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.vpnc' started (org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.vpnc), PID 2299
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer kernel: [ 64.059308] tun: Universal TUN/TAP device driver, 1.6
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer kernel: [ 64.059317] tun: (C) 1999-2004 Max Krasnyansky <email address hidden>
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> VPN service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.vpnc' just appeared, activating connections
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> VPN plugin state changed: 3
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> VPN connection 'VPN connection 1' (Connect) reply received.
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> VPN plugin failed: 1
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> VPN plugin state changed: 6
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> VPN plugin state change reason: 0
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <WARN> connection_state_changed(): Could not process the request because no VPN connection was active.
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> (ra0): writing resolv.conf to /sbin/resolvconf
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> Policy set 'Auto sky2-g' (ra0) as default for routing and DNS.
Mar 27 21:25:03 computer wpa_supplicant[1102]: CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-RESULTS
Mar 27 21:25:03 computer kernel: [ 66.708050] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 1(1) BSS returned, data->length = 112
Mar 27 21:25:13 computer NetworkManager: <debug> [1269739513.003075] ensure_killed(): waiting for vpn service pid 2299 to exit
Mar 27 21:25:13 computer NetworkManager: <debug> [1269739513.003452] ensure_killed(): vpn service pid 2299 cleaned up

user@computer:~$
user@computer:~$ tail -30 /var/log/syslog
Mar 27 21:24:49 computer NetworkManager: <info> Activation (ra0) Stage 5 of 5 (IP Configure Commit) complete.
Mar 27 21:24:50 computer ntpdate[2290]: adjust time server 91.189.94.4 offset 0.078738 sec
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> Starting VPN service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.vpnc'...
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> VPN service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.vpnc' started (org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.vpnc), PID 2299
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer kernel: [ 64.059308] tun: Universal TUN/TAP device driver, 1.6
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer kernel: [ 64.059317] tun: (C) 1999-2004 Max Krasnyansky <email address hidden>
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> VPN service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.vpnc' just appeared, activating connections
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> VPN plugin state changed: 3
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> VPN connection 'VPN connection 1' (Connect) reply received.
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> VPN plugin failed: 1
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> VPN plugin state changed: 6
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> VPN plugin state change reason: 0
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <WARN> connection_state_changed(): Could not process the request because no VPN connection was active.
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> (ra0): writing resolv.conf to /sbin/resolvconf
Mar 27 21:25:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> Policy set 'Auto sky2-g' (ra0) as default for routing and DNS.
Mar 27 21:25:03 computer wpa_supplicant[1102]: CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-RESULTS
Mar 27 21:25:03 computer kernel: [ 66.708050] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 1(1) BSS returned, data->length = 112
Mar 27 21:25:13 computer NetworkManager: <debug> [1269739513.003075] ensure_killed(): waiting for vpn service pid 2299 to exit
Mar 27 21:25:13 computer NetworkManager: <debug> [1269739513.003452] ensure_killed(): vpn service pid 2299 cleaned up
Mar 27 21:25:43 computer wpa_supplicant[1102]: CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-RESULTS
Mar 27 21:25:43 computer kernel: [ 106.711894] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 1(1) BSS returned, data->length = 112
Mar 27 21:26:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> Starting VPN service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.vpnc'...
Mar 27 21:26:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> VPN service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.vpnc' started (org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.vpnc), PID 2377
Mar 27 21:26:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> VPN service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.vpnc' just appeared, activating connections
Mar 27 21:26:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> VPN plugin state changed: 3
Mar 27 21:26:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> VPN connection 'VPN connection 1' (Connect) reply received.
Mar 27 21:26:00 computer NetworkManager: <WARN> nm_vpn_connection_connect_cb(): VPN connection 'VPN connection 1' failed to connect: 'No VPN secrets!'.
Mar 27 21:26:00 computer NetworkManager: <WARN> connection_state_changed(): Could not process the request because no VPN connection was active.
Mar 27 21:26:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> (ra0): writing resolv.conf to /sbin/resolvconf
Mar 27 21:26:00 computer NetworkManager: <info> Policy set 'Auto sky2-g' (ra0) as default for routing and DNS.

[Sebastian Bator (eremit7)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This bug did not have a package associated with it, which is important for ensuring that it gets looked at by the proper developers. You can learn more about finding the right package at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage . I have classified this bug as a bug in VPNC.
For future reference you might be interested to know that a lot of applications have bug reporting functionality built in to them. This can be accessed via the Report a Problem option in the Help menu for the application with which you are having an issue. You can learn more about this feature at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

[Andrew Frank (frank-geoinfo)]

i run lucid and encounter behavior that seems similar as described above. the error message is consistently 'no valid VPN secrets' (the passwords are saved in the setup. they are correct and work with a 9.04 ubuntu) -- i seem to remember a similar bug earlier in 9.10.
this is a regression bug!

[Michael Cook (michaelcook-mjc)]

Thanks Andrew for the feedback. I assume no one knows of any workarounds to this bug? The forums discussions such as deleting the passwords from the system do not seem to help in my situation. Let me know if you need more info, or whether this will likely be addressed by Lucids' release?

[Andrew Frank (frank-geoinfo)]

i just got the new update on 10.04 lucid - with kernel 2.6.32.20 - now it works!
i found that lucid beta is already quite stable and useful. try to see if it fixes your problem too.

[Andrew Phillips (atp-tinola)]

 I'm running latest lucid 10.04 64 bit and its not working for me either. The password access dialog is not popping
up so the missing secret may be my password. Using /usr/share/vpnc/pcftovpnc to convert the pcf file and
running manually gives me a successful connection.

[Jussi Lind (jussi-lind)]

This still happens at least on 11.04. It worked before, but suddenly I cannot connect anymore. However, I'm able to connect from command line manually using vpnc-connect and /usr/share/vpnc/pcf2vpnc like mentioned in comment #5 (thanks for the tip!).

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.