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17.5.3 MR3 - creating an IPSec connection damages the configuration of the Sophos Connect server

I have a very serious problem with router running under 17.5.3 MR3 firmware. Previously we have configured dozens of IPSec site-to-site connections with preshared key. All of them were created in previous versions of the firmware and after migration to 17.5 worked without any problems.

Unfortunately now, at the moment when I add a new IPSec connection with preshared key, the configuration of the Sophos Connect server is dispersed. An attempt to establish a VPN connection with it ends with an "Incorrect pre-shared key" error. As I've checked, this effect only occurs using preshared keys, the same connection created using RSA keys does not cause errors.
That preshared key itself is 10 characters long and does not contain any special characters

It does not help generate a new configuration file in Sophos Connect and upload it to the client, nor try to change the preshared key to another one on the router. The only solution is to restore the router configuration from backup.

What can I do with this? Is this a known bug in this firmware version? Will help me return to the earlier version of the firmware?



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  • One do not even need to create a new "normal" IPSec connection, just open and save existing ones. This causes immediate damage to the preshared key on the Sophos Connect server. Very frustrating...

  • Hello Michal,

     

    Let me understand. You are saying a Sophos Connect Client policy using PSK is defined. Now you define a new IPsec connection (is this defined for S-2-S or Remote Access?) using PSK. At this point you are saying that PSK in Sophos Connect Client policy is also getting changed. That is one problem you are defining. At this point if you export the Sophos Connect Client policy and import it in Sophos Connect Client it will give an error?

    Please clarify so I can reproduce the problem and let you know tomorrow

     

    Ramesh

  • It is exactly as you wrote.

    1. I have previously configured IPSec site2site test connection
    2. Edited preshared-key
    3. After saving the changes, the Sophos Connect connection stops working, the error "Received NO_PROPOSAL_CHOSEN notification from gateway" appears

    Below I paste a fragment of the SC client log:

    2019-03-27 10:50:55 AM 13 [CFG] added vici connection: IT
    2019-03-27 10:50:55 AM 12 [CFG] loaded IKE shared key with id 'IT-psk-id' for: '% any'
    2019-03-27 10:50:55 AM 15 [CFG] loaded EAP shared key with id 'IT-xauth-id' for: 'michal'
    2019-03-27 10:50:55 AM 08 [CFG] vici initiate 'IT-1'
    2019-03-27 10:50:55 AM 10 [IKE] <IT | 43> initiating Main Mode IKE_SA IT [43] is 46.xxx.xxx.202
    2019-03-27 10:50:55 AM 10 [ENC] <IT | 43> powers ID_PROT request 0 [SA V V V V V]
    2019-03-27 10:50:55 AM 10 [NET] <IT | 43> sending packet: from 192.168.178.100 [53468] to 46.xxx.xxx.202 [500] (180 bytes)
    2019-03-27 10:50:56 AM 13 [NET] <IT | 43> received packet: from 46.xxx.xxx.202 [500] to 192.168.178.100 [53468] (56 bytes)
    2019-03-27 10:50:56 AM 13 [ENC] <IT | 43> parsed INFORMATIONAL_V1 request 1696554400 [N (NO_PROP)]
    2019-03-27 10:50:56 AM 13 [IKE] <IT | 43> received NO_PROPOSAL_CHOSEN error notify
    2019-03-27 10:50:56 AM 09 [CFG] unloaded shared key with id 'IT-psk-id'
    2019-03-27 10:50:56 AM 10 [CFG] unloaded shared key with id 'IT-xauth-id'


    An earlier test of creating a completely new IPSec connection also ended with a Sophos Connect failure, only that the "Incorrect pre-shared key" message was displayed.

     

    Regards,

    Michal

  • I found the cause of the problem. The .tgb file with the old Sophos Connect configuration contains the PSK key in an encrypted form, e.g. Authentication = "8Yj$N&B". 
    However, the new tgb file - generated after updating PSK in the IPSec connection - contains the same key, but in the form of plain text: Authentication = "abcdefg"

    It seems that this is a firmware error.

  • Hello Michal,

    The tgb file never encrypts the PSK. 

    Ramesh

  • Hello Ramesh,

    I have an original tgb file with an encrypted PSK key generated in February. I can also upload to the router a copy of the configuration from two days ago, with which this tbg file works properly.

    Unfortunately, this is not the only problem. Regardless of the password change, the encryption protocol has also been changed. Hence the second message about which I wrote "Received NO_PROPOSAL_CHOSEN notification from gateway".

    Summarizing:
    Editing a normal IPSec connection resulted in an unexpected change in the PSK key and encryption protocols in Sophos Connect. As a result, I am unable to set up vpn even using a freshly exported configuration. And at any time I can demonstrate it live.

  • Hello Michal,

    The tgb file never encrypts the PSK.

    Ramesh

  • Ramesh

    You're right, and what I was taking for the encrypted PSK key was in fact the key that the system automatically generated during the first configuration of Sophos Connect.

    My problem resulted from limitations of the encryption system used in XG Firewall. For all IPSec connections that have a common source and destination, one and the same PSK is used - and its change affects all such connections. In my case, I edited IPSec connections intended for mobile users who do not have a fixed IP address. All these connections had "*" in the "remote gateway" field. Unfortunately, Sophos Connect also uses such addressing scheme, which is why the change of the PSK key in those IPSec connections also affected the PSK key entered into Sophos Connect.

    However, doing cut corners is quite risky and may end with an unexpected overwriting of valid PSK key on either side. The Sophos Connect interface gives the impression that it is a functionally completely separate application, unrelated to the interface in which IPSec connections are configured, and it is difficult to guess that PSK keys are common. It would be good to improve it in the next versions of the firmware.

     

    Thank you very much for your help and for today's Zoom session.

    Best regards,

    Michal

  • My problem with the NO_PROPOSAL_CHOSEN error has also been solved, thank you again for your help. It turned out that after changing the PSK key also changed the encryption method used by the Sophos Connect server. What's more, the newly generated configuration file for the client contained incorrect settings, which resulted in an error as above when attempting to set up the connection. 

    Solution to this problem - according to received instructions - is given below:

    If you are using scx file then edit the file and change the proposals line
    "proposals": "aes256-sha2_256-modp4096", to:
    "proposals": "aes256-sha2_256-ecp256"

    If you are using the tgb file then replace all instance of GRP2 with GRP19. There are six lines that will be changed.

     

    Best regards,
    Michal

  • Hello Michal,

    Sophos Connect 1.3 is released and it is now available via your firewall via pattern update. You can go to System->Backup & Firmware->Pattern Updates and click Pattern update now to  downloaded in case it is not there already.

    Please do let us know how this new version works for you after a week of usage. Looking for feedback from customers for this new release.

    Thank you,

    Ramesh