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Heartbeat authentication failed : username without domain name maybe the cause- Live users disappear but still connected to vpn

Hello,

we use the SSLVPN authentication to apply different rules for users and the heartbeat to have the synced security.

Sometimes the user still connected to the VPN but not visible in the live user, in this case the rules with match known user not work! He need to reconnect the vpn to be visible again.

I found on the log a lot of error in the authentication tab related to heartbeat. All heartbeat have the status FAILED. 

If i compare with SSLVPN, the @domain is visible and the authentication work fine. 

For the problematic user, we can see the logout in the log but on the desktop ,the vpn still connected ! 

Any idea why the heartbeat doesn't return the domain? Could be the cause of my problem? Thank you



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  • Hello Julian,

    Thank you for contacting the Sophos Community.

    What do you see in the /log/access_log.log for this user?

    For the SSL VPN you’re using two different types of authentication? 

    As a suggestion, if you’re using Heartbeat and STAS for authentication, try to stick to only one type of authentication for the same segment of devices.

    Regards,


     
    Emmanuel (EmmoSophos)
    Technical Team Lead, Global Community Support
    Sophos Support VideosProduct Documentation  |  @SophosSupport  | Sign up for SMS Alerts
    If a post solves your question use the 'Verify Answer' link.
  • Hi ,

    I need to wait the next event to check in access&***;log, i will check today.

    For VPN no we just use the AD authentication but when a user is connected using ssl, the authentication is SSL VPN but thought the AD. Some rules are created by using users

    To avoid to have 2 authentication with STAS and SSLVPN for the same IP i added the subnet of the SSLVPN to the excluse subnet in STAS. 

    But i have a lot of error for heartbeat in authentication TAB, for me i don't have any problem to use only the heartbeat for authentication of this user but how can i solve the error with heartbeat authentication? Why there is a lot of error? (Only error, never it's ok for heartbeat)

    Thank you

  • Heartbeat uses a different auth method. The endpoint will strip the SAMAccountname and the used Domain and send it to the XG.

    XG will look for a matching AD Server for this particular Domain.

    If you are using .local internally but the endpoint strips .com, this causes this problem. 

    If the Logviewer shows a Auth error because of no finding AD Server, this could be the issue. 

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  • Hi,

    The AD server working well and as i shown the authentication with VPN or STAS work fine. Why not with heartbeat? 

  • Please show your Logviewer screenshot of those failed logins. 

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  • Seems like this user cannot be authenticated vs any AD configured in XG. Compared to the SSLVPN authentication, do you see a difference? in the Domain or something like that. 

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  • For SSLVPN i configured it in authentication/service and select all AD Server, for heartbeat i don't found any option to change or configure. I don't understand why it can't have a successful authentication it's the same user and same server. 

  • XG tries your username (SAMAccountname) and fires it against all AD server, you configured on XG. Seems like 3 different AD Server are configured. 

    It is important to notice the used domain on the XG in AD Servers. This will be attached and used against this AD server. Seems like this does not work. 

    Looking at SSLVPN, it looks like it uses a UPN (Accountname + domain + top level domain). 

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  • We have one domain with multiple subdomain it's why we have multiples AD servers. I need to use all AD in my case. It's working fine for SSL, why not for heartbeat? I assume that when you connect using sslvpn, XG will try all AD server..  

Reply Children
  • It seems like the user use the sub domain, which is not created on the XG? 

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  • Yes all user is created and work because it's a user who use the VPN, the authentication work, in  this case the user is created on the xg but i don't know why the username isn't recognized  ?! so strange 

  • Let me rephrase my point: 

    Endpoint extract the Username and the domain. 

    Sends it to XG.

    XG looks up the matching domain in the list of AD Servers. 

    Sends AD user name to the matching AD Servers. 

    The used domain on the endpoint could be different to the domains on the XG. 

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  • Ok but how can i specify the domain to use? I don't understand why when we make a ssl connection, we just type the username and sophos can found the good domain to use... 

  • Hello Julian,

    could you please answer the following questions and then I think I will able to tell you exactly where the problem is?

    - what is the name of the internal Microsoft Active Directory domain, I assume "domain.local"?
    - what is the value of the userPrincipalName (UPN) parameter for users of your internal Microsoft
       Active Directory domain for which Security Heartbeat does not work, I assume "domain.com"?
    - I assume you have these settings because you use Microsoft Teams, right?

    Regards

    alda

  • Hi ,

    i want to avoid to give some details of the organisation and i will replace it by "company"

    -what is the name of the internal Microsoft Active Directory domain : company.int

    - what is the value of the userPrincipalName (UPN) parameter for users of your internal Microsoft : @company.com

    -Active Directory domain for which Security Heartbeat does not work : Yes company.com

    - assume you have these settings because you use Microsoft Teams, right? Yes :)

  • Hello Julian,

    you confirmed to me what I expected. 

    The problem is in the value of the UPN parameter. If (for a test) you change the value of this parameter in an user account in your Microsoft Active directory to "user@company.int", the authorization for Security Heartbeat will miraculously work correctly. For SSL VPN remote access, the authorization will still also work, because for SSL VPN (what a surprise) the sAMAccountName is used, ie an user name in this case is "user@company.int".
    Sophos developers mistakenly assumed when developing Security Heartbeat that the value of the UPN parameter must match the name of the internal Microsoft Active Directory domain, ie in your case "company.int". This assumption, based on Sophos developers, is not mentioned anywhere in the Microsoft Active Directory documentation.
    On the contrary, their assumption, especially for medium and enterprise companies, does not correspond to reality.
    Unfortunately, another annoying consequence of this error in the development of Security Heartbeat is the inability to use Microsoft Teams and Security Heartbeat at the same time, because Microsoft Teams requires the use of the FQDN public domain name, in your case "company.com".
    The date for eliminating this problem, which we pointed out to Sophos almost two years ago, is still unknown. Although we have opened a support ticket for this problem, there is still no answer to this day.
    I apologize if I saddened you with this post, but in the current situation, do not assume that you will be able to use the solution according to your requirements.

    Regards

    alda

  • Thats not entirely correct. 

    The endpoint will extract both information (domain and samaccountname) and look for the matching domain (server) on XG. If there is no server, it will likely not find anything to authenticate. Moving towards this issue in this case, you could easily move all your ad servers to the .com address and reauthenticate all users. It should work for SSLVPN and for all HB authentications. You need to streamline the requests and only use the .com. It should work in that 

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  • Hello LuCar Toni,

    believe me what I wrote is true. You can easily verify it yourself!
    As I wrote, all you have to do is change the UPN parameter and Security Hearbeat will work correctly.
    As Julian wrote the authorization to Microsoft Active Directory works correctly for him, the problem is in a different than expected value of the UPN parameter. The problem is not in the unavailability of the authorization server as you wrote. Just change the UPN parameter, that's the whole problem ....
    And to your recommendation to change the name of the internal domain, have you ever done something like that? And you know what all this will to do, especially if it's in Microsoft Active Directory Exchange Server, really? I'm sorry, but here it's called the road to hell ...

    Regards

    alda

    P.S. I apologize for the somewhat expressive sentences, but we have been facing this problem (as I have already written) for almost two years and no one wants to solve this problem. This problem is clearly in the implementation of Security Heartbeat.
    If anyone in the community wants more details please send a PM or I will have a ban again....

  • If i think correct, username was created before the upn have change. If i delete the user in the XG, it will be re created with the good upn? Have i to use the PURGE AD USER button? I never used it