L2TP VPN broken on MacOS 13/Ventura

Dove in and upgraded two Macs today to beta 1. Unfortunately, it appears L2TP VPN is broken or something changed in the way it works. I can longer get a connection to any VPN concentrator I used previously. I tested with Cisco Anyconnect SSL VPN client and can connect to the same concentrators (as they're configured to accept L2TP or SSL clients).

I also tested from my phone running iOS 16 beta and it still works for the L2TP connections.

The Mac not working with L2TP VPN ppp.log shows this

Fri Jun 10 19:18:52 2022 : L2TP connecting to server 'IP removed' (IP removed)... Fri Jun 10 19:18:52 2022 : IPSec connection started Fri Jun 10 19:18:52 2022 : IPSec phase 1 client started Fri Jun 10 19:19:02 2022 : IPSec connection failed

Connecting a Mac successfully on 12.4 the log shows

Fri Jun 10 19:12:33 2022 : L2TP connecting to server 'IP removed' (IP removed)... Fri Jun 10 19:12:33 2022 : IPSec connection started Fri Jun 10 19:12:33 2022 : IPSec phase 1 client started Fri Jun 10 19:12:33 2022 : IPSec phase 1 server replied Fri Jun 10 19:12:34 2022 : IPSec phase 2 started Fri Jun 10 19:12:34 2022 : IPSec phase 2 established Fri Jun 10 19:12:34 2022 : IPSec connection established (and then a ton more lines of the entire process ending with client getting an IP that I won't bother posting)

VPN wasn't high on my list of apps I was concerned about breaking with the beta. But, now that it is broke and I need it for work I'm kinda screwed myself.

Anyway, if anyone knows a way to fix this please let me know.

Post not yet marked as solved Up vote post of rymiles Down vote post of rymiles
820 views
Posted by
rymiles
Reply
Add a Comment

Replies

The issue is still present in beta 2.

Posted by
imprecis
Post not yet marked as solved Up vote reply of imprecis Down vote reply of imprecis
Add a Comment

same issue, beta 1, beta 2, cant use also thirdparty app.

Posted by
PheneSoft
Up vote reply of PheneSoft Down vote reply of PheneSoft
Add a Comment

yeah I also have this issue with beta2 (was also present on beta1)

Posted by
chriso123
Up vote reply of chriso123 Down vote reply of chriso123
Add a Comment

I have been able to successfully use L2TP vpn with UniFi firewalls using a configuration profile I created in Apple Configurator 2. Two separate configuration profiles, installed in system preferences, and it connected right up. If I add it through System Preferences manually, I get a PPP configuration error or an L2TP server did not respond. I'm guessing through system preferences, the manual installation isn't saving correctly, but using a configuration profile works great. Fingers crossed it keeps working!

Posted by
utahtrust
Post not yet marked as solved Up vote reply of utahtrust Down vote reply of utahtrust

  • Sounds like a ray of hope. Can you advise or share steps or actions carried out to use it?

    —
    deshpandeah
Add a Comment

I've never used the configurator. Let me give that a try.

Posted by
rymiles
Up vote reply of rymiles Down vote reply of rymiles
Add a Comment

Dude, you are awesome. I hadn't thought of trying it that way. My iMac is already enrolled in Meraki MDM so I created a new VPN policy in that dashboard, it pushed to iMac, and VPN now connects!

Posted by
rymiles
Up vote reply of rymiles Down vote reply of rymiles
Add a Comment

As per @utahtrust comment, I checked this out, and it worked a treat.

  1. Download Apple Configurator from the Mac App Store and Open after installation.
  2. Click File->New Profile
  3. Click VPN from the Left hand Side menu, and configure your VPN Settings.
  4. After you're finished, hit CMD + S to save, and save to where ever, find in Finder and double click.

This will prompt System Preferences (now known as System Settings) to launch. For me, the Profile Installation box did not pop up so I searched Profiles in the Settings Search bar and found it within there. Double Click the new Profile and hit install. You should be able to see the new VPN Profile, and connect to it.

Posted by
jacobkward
Post not yet marked as solved Up vote reply of jacobkward Down vote reply of jacobkward

  • Thank you for such easy and detailed explanation. Just tested on Ventura Beta 3 and it worked perfect! 👏

    —
    yarodya
Add a Comment

The Apple Configurator method works in beta 3 as well. The manual option still does not work in beta 3.

Posted by
pdman
Up vote reply of pdman Down vote reply of pdman

  • OMG, you saved my (professional) life - I finally can work from home again ;-)

    —
    didole
Add a Comment