# NetworkManager-l2tp

NetworkManager-l2tp is a VPN plugin for NetworkManager 1.52.2, 1.54.3 or
1.56.0 and later which provides support for L2TP and L2TP/IPsec (i.e. L2TP
over IPsec) connections.

For L2TP support, it uses either of the following :
* kl2tpd from Katalix's go-l2tp project
  ( https://github.com/katalix/go-l2tp )
* xl2tpd ( https://github.com/xelerance/xl2tpd )

IPv6 functionality requires kl2tpd or an IPv6‑capable fork of xl2tpd.

For IPsec support, it uses either of the following :
* Libreswan ( https://libreswan.org )
* strongSwan ( https://www.strongswan.org )

For user authentication it supports either:
* username/password credentials.
* TLS certificates.

For machine authentication it supports either:
* Pre-shared key (PSK).
* TLS certificates.

For details on pre-built packages, known issues and build dependencies,
please visit the Wiki :
* https://github.com/nm-l2tp/NetworkManager-l2tp/wiki

## Building

    ./autogen.sh
    ./configure  # (see below)
    make

The default ./configure settings aren't reasonable and should be explicitly
overridden with ./configure arguments. In the configure examples below, if you
have pppd < 2.5.0 you may need to use `--with-pppd-plugin-dir` and set it to
an appropriate directory that exists, similarly `--with-nm-ipsec-nss-dir` may
need to be set to the Libreswan NSS database location if it is not located in
`/var/lib/ipsec/nss`. The `--enable-libreswan-dh2` switch can be used with
libreswan < 3.30 or libreswan packages built with `USE_DH2=true` i.e. have
modp1024 support.

#### Debian sid and Ubuntu 26.04 (AMD64, i.e. x86-64)

    ./configure \
      --disable-static --prefix=/usr \
      --sysconfdir=/etc --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu \
      --runstatedir=/run \
      --with-gtk4

#### Fedora 43 and later, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and later (x86-64)

    ./configure \
      --disable-static --prefix=/usr \
      --sysconfdir=/etc --libdir=/usr/lib64 \
      --runstatedir=/run \
      --with-gtk4

#### openSUSE Tumbleweed (x86-64)

    ./configure \
      --disable-static --prefix=/usr \
      --sysconfdir=/etc --libdir=/usr/lib64 \
      --libexecdir=/usr/lib \
      --localstatedir=/var \
      --enable-libreswan-dh2 \
      --with-gtk4

## VPN connection profile files

VPN connection profile files will be one of the following, with the latter
used when Netplan integration is enabled in NetworkManager:
- /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/*.nmconnection
- /etc/netplan/90-NM-*.yaml

## Run-time generated files

The following files located under `/var/run` assume `--localstatedir=/var` or
`--runstatedir=/var/run` were supplied to the configure script at build time.

* /var/run/nm-l2tp-_UUID_/xl2tpd.conf
* /var/run/nm-l2tp-_UUID_/xl2tpd-control
* /var/run/nm-l2tp-_UUID_/xl2tpd.pid
* /var/run/nm-l2tp-_UUID_/ppp-options
* /var/run/nm-l2tp-_UUID_/ipsec.conf
* /etc/ipsec.d/ipsec.nm-l2tp.secrets

where _UUID_ is the NetworkManager UUID for the VPN connection.

If strongswan is being used, NetworkManager-l2tp will append the following line
to `/etc/ipsec.secrets` at run-time if the line is missing:

    include ipsec.d/ipsec.nm-l2tp.secrets

## Password protecting the libreswan NSS database

The NSS database is used by NetworkManager-l2tp for machine certificate VPN
connections using libreswan.

libreswan >= 4.0 default NSS database location is `/var/lib/ipsec/nss/` and
for all versions of libreswan on Debian/Ubuntu. Older libreswan versions often
use `/etc/ipsec.d/` such as on older version of RHEL/Fedora/CentOS.

The default libreswan package install for most Linux distributions uses an
empty password. It is up to the administrator to decide on whether to use a
password or not. However, a non-empty database password must be provided when
running in FIPS mode.

See the following page on how to set the password for the libreswan NSS
database and the syntax for the `/var/lib/ipsec/nss/nsspassword` file where the
password is stored:
* https://libreswan.org/wiki/HOWTO:_Using_NSS_with_libreswan

## Debugging

For Systemd based Linux distributions logging goes to the Systemd journal
which can be viewed by issuing the following :

    journalctl --no-hostname _COMM=nm-l2tp-service _COMM=ipsec _COMM=pluto _COMM=charon _COMM=kl2tpd _COMM=xl2tpd _COMM=pppd

For non-Systemd based Linux distributions, view the appropriate system log
file which is most likely located under `/var/log/`.

### Increase Debugging Output

To increase debugging output, issue the following on the command line, it
will also prevent the run-time generated config files from being deleted after
the VPN connection is disconnected :

#### Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux
    sudo killall -TERM nm-l2tp-service
    sudo /usr/libexec/nm-l2tp-service --debug

#### openSUSE
    sudo killall -TERM nm-l2tp-service
    sudo /usr/lib/nm-l2tp-service --debug

then start your VPN connection and reproduce the problem.

For Systemd based Linux distributions when increasing the debugging output
by running `nm-l2tp-service --debug` on the command-line, you may need to
issue the following to see more log output:

    journalctl -b

### Libreswan Custom Debugging

The Libreswan debugging can be customized by setting the `PLUTODEBUG` env
variable which corresponds to the `plutodebug` ipsec.conf config section option.
The syntax for `PLUTODEBUG` is a white-space separated list of the following
format :

    PLUTODEBUG="TYPE TYPE ... TYPE"

Where TYPE is a debug option from the list output by issuing the following on
the command-line :

    ipsec whack --debug list

*Examples:*

#### Debian < 13 and Ubuntu < 24.04
    sudo PLUTODEBUG="all proposal-parser" /usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-l2tp-service --debug

#### Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux
    sudo PLUTODEBUG="all proposal-parser" /usr/libexec/nm-l2tp-service --debug

#### openSUSE
    sudo PLUTODEBUG="all proposal-parser" /usr/lib/nm-l2tp-service --debug

### strongSwan Custom Debugging

The strongSwan debugging can be customized by setting the `CHARONDEBUG` env
variable which corresponds to the `charondebug` ipsec.conf config section option.
The syntax for `CHARONDEBUG` is a comma separated list of the following format :

    CHARONDEBUG="TYPE LEVEL, TYPE LEVEL, ..., TYPE LEVEL"

where TYPE is:
    any|dmn|mgr|ike|chd|job|cfg|knl|net|asn|enc|tnc|imc|imv|pts|tls|esp|lib

and LEVEL is: -1|0|1|2|3|4

*Examples:*

#### Debian < 13 and Ubuntu < 24.04
    sudo CHARONDEBUG="knl 1, ike 2, esp 2, lib 1, cfg 3" /usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-l2tp-service --debug

#### Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux
    sudo CHARONDEBUG="knl 1, ike 2, esp 2, lib 1, cfg 3" /usr/libexec/nm-l2tp-service --debug

#### openSUSE
    sudo CHARONDEBUG="knl 1, ike 2, esp 2, lib 1, cfg 3" /usr/lib/nm-l2tp-service --debug

## Libreswan no longer supports IKEv1 packets by default

Libreswan 5.0 and later, along with earlier versions of Libreswan on some
Linux distros, no longer support IKEv1 packets by default, the following
error occurs if this is the case :

```
failed to add IKEv1 connection: global ikev1-policy does not allow IKEv1 connections
```

To re-enable IKEv1, uncomment or add `ikev1-policy=accept` to the
`config setup` section of `/etc/ipsec.conf`

With Libreswan >= 5.0, the re-enabling of IKEv1 can be achieved by issuing:

```
sudo sed -e 's/#ikev1-policy=.*/ikev1-policy=accept/' -i /etc/ipsec.conf
```

## Issue with blacklisting of L2TP kernel modules

go-l2tp's kl2tpd requires `l2tp_ppp` and `l2tp_netlink` kernel modules which
will fail to auto-load if the  kernel modules are blacklisted.

If you are using xl2tpd and see the following error message, then chances are
that the `l2tp_ppp` and `l2tp_netlink` kernel modules are blacklisted :
```
xl2tpd[1234]: L2TP kernel support not detected (try modprobing l2tp_ppp and pppol2tp)
```

For xl2tpd compatibility with Microsoft L2TP servers (and some other L2TP
servers), L2TP kernel modules are required.

`sudo modprobe l2tp_ppp` (or `sudo modprobe pppol2tp` for older kernels) can
be used as a temporary workaround, but it is recommended to do a blacklist
removal as described further which provides a permanent solution.

The following is an extract from _"Enhanced security of auto-loading kernel
modules in RHEL 8 "_ web page :
* https://access.redhat.com/articles/3760101

> To enhance Red Hat Enterprise Linux against possible future security
> vulnerabilities in lesser-known components which system administrators
> typically do not protect against, a set of kernel modules have been moved to
> the `kernel-modules-extra` package and blacklisted by default so those
> components cannot be loaded by non-root users.
>
> When a system requires use of one of these kernel modules, the system
> administrator must explicitly remove the module blacklist.

Although the above is for RHEL8, it is also applicable to Fedora >= 31,
CentOS 8 and other derivatives.

The `/etc/modprobe.d/l2tp_netlink-blacklist.conf` file contains:
```sh
# Remove the blacklist by adding a comment # at the start of the line.
blacklist l2tp_netlink
```

The `/etc/modprobe.d/l2tp_ppp-blacklist.conf` file contains :
```sh
# Remove the blacklist by adding a comment # at the start of the line.
blacklist l2tp_ppp
```

To remove the blacklist of the L2TP modules by adding a # comment to the start
of the blacklist lines can be achieved with:
```
sudo sed -e '/blacklist l2tp_netlink/s/^b/#b/g' -i /etc/modprobe.d/l2tp_netlink-blacklist.conf
sudo sed -e '/blacklist l2tp_ppp/s/^b/#b/g' -i /etc/modprobe.d/l2tp_ppp-blacklist.conf
```

## L2TP connection issues with UDP source port 1701

First some examples showing successful L2TP connections demonstrating source
port and ephemeral port terminologies used by the subsequent issues.

The following example uses network diagnostic tools `netstat` and the newer
`ss` to show a successful L2TP connection between a client with its local
address (source address and port) and a server with its foreign/peer address
and port, where the source port is 1701.

```
$ netstat -u -n
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address           Foreign Address         State
udp        0      0 10.184.42.84:1701      123.45.6.78:1701        ESTABLISHED

$ ss -u -n
Recv-Q   Send-Q         Local Address:Port        Peer Address:Port   Process
0        0               10.184.42.84:1701         123.45.6.78:1701
```

The following shows a successful L2TP connection where the source port is an
ephemeral port (i.e. random high port), in this example it is 45575.

```
$ netstat -un
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address           Foreign Address         State
udp        0      0 10.184.42.84:45575     123.45.6.78:1701        ESTABLISHED

$ ss -u -n
Recv-Q   Send-Q         Local Address:Port        Peer Address:Port   Process
0        0               10.184.42.84:45575        123.45.6.78:1701
```
### Unable to establish L2TP connection without UDP source port 1701

There are some L2TP/IPsec servers that will reject L2TP connections when an
ephemeral source port is used (i.e. when UDP source port 1701 is not used),
even though the use of an ephemeral port is considered acceptable in RFC3193,
the L2TP/IPsec standard co-authored by Microsoft and Cisco.

When NetworkManager-l2tp tries to start its own instance of xl2tpd or kl2tpd,
if UDP port 1701 is not free (e.g. system xl2tpd is listening on UDP port
 1701), an ephemeral source port will be used.

The following `netstat` and `ss` command-lines can be used to check if there
is system xl2tpd (or some other daemon) listening on UDP port 1701 :

```
$ sudo netstat -unlp | grep 1701
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:1701            0.0.0.0:*                           4123/xl2tpd

$ sudo ss -unlp | grep 1701
UNCONN 0      0                               0.0.0.0:1701         0.0.0.0:*     users:(("xl2tpd",pid=4123,fd=3))
```

Stopping the system xl2tpd service should free UDP port 1701 and on systemd
based Linux distributions, the xl2tpd service can be stopped with the
following:

    sudo systemctl stop xl2tpd.service

If stopping the xl2tpd service fixes your VPN connection issue, you can
disable the xl2tpd service from starting at boot time with :

    sudo systemctl disable xl2tpd.service

There are some cases where disabling a service doesn't stop it from being
started at boot time. You can check if the xl2tp service is still running
with the following :

    systemctl disable xl2tpd.service

If it is still running, you can issue the following to ensure is isn't started
at boot time:

    sudo systemctl mask xl2tpd.service

### Unable to establish L2TP connection with UDP source port 1701

Generally NAT-Traversal does not work for multiple L2TP clients behind the
same NAT if the clients are all using UDP source port 1701, as the server is
unable to differentiate between multiple L2TP connections coming from the same
NAT.

For NetworkManager-l2tp the simplest workaround to allow the server to
differentiate between multiple L2TP connections from the same NAT is to use an
ephemeral source port. Either click the "Use L2TP ephemeral source port"
checkbox in the settings, or enable and start the system xl2tpd.

Some L2TP/IPsec servers can be configured to use a connmark plugin (or
similar) to differentiate between L2TP connections from the same NAT.

## IPsec IKEv1 weak legacy algorithms and backwards compatibility

There is a general consensus that the following legacy algorithms are now
considered weak or broken in regards to security and should be phased out and
replaced with stronger algorithms.

Encryption Algorithms :
* 3DES
* Blowfish

Integrity Algorithms :
* MD5
* SHA1

Diffie Hellman Groups :
* MODP768
* MODP1024
* MODP1536

The following strongSwan page has more details on which algorithms are
considered broken:
* https://wiki.strongswan.org/projects/strongswan/wiki/IKEv1CipherSuites

Legacy algorithms that are considered weak or broken are regularly removed from
the default set of allowed algorithms with newer releases of strongSwan and
libreswan.

As of NetworkManager-l2tp version 1.2.16, it was decided to compromise for
backwards compatibility by not using the strongSwan and libreswan default set
of allowed algorithms, instead algorithms that are a merge of Windows 10 and
macOS/iOS/iPadOS L2TP/IPsec clients' IKEv1 proposals are used instead. The
weakest proposals that were not common to both Win10 and iOS were dropped, but
all of the strongest ones were kept:

| Phase 1 - Main Mode |
| ------------------- |
| {enc=AES_CBC_256 integ=HMAC_SHA2_256_128 group=MODP_2048} |
| {enc=AES_CBC_256 integ=HMAC_SHA2_256_128 group=MODP_1536} |
| {enc=AES_CBC_256 integ=HMAC_SHA2_256_128 group=MODP_1024} * |
| {enc=AES_CBC_256 integ=HMAC_SHA1_96 group=MODP_2048} |
| {enc=AES_CBC_256 integ=HMAC_SHA1_96 group=MODP_1536} |
| {enc=AES_CBC_256 integ=HMAC_SHA1_96 group=MODP_1024} * |
| {enc=AES_CBC_256 integ=HMAC_SHA1_96 group=ECP_384} |
| {enc=AES_CBC_128 integ=HMAC_SHA1_96 group=MODP_1024} * |
| {enc=AES_CBC_128 integ=HMAC_SHA1_96 group=ECP_256} |
| {enc=3DES_CBC integ=HMAC_SHA1_96 group=MODP_2048} |
| {enc=3DES_CBC integ=HMAC_SHA1_96 group=MODP_1024} * |

| Phase 2 - Quick Mode |
| ------------------- |
| {enc=AES_CBC_256 integ=HMAC_SHA1_96} |
| {enc=AES_CBC_128 integ=HMAC_SHA1_96} |
| {enc=3DES_CBC integ=HMAC_SHA1_96} |

* Libreswan >= 3.30 is no longer built with DH2 (modp1024) support, so
above proposals which have modp1024 have been excluded when libreswan is used,
except if NetworkManager-l2tp is built with the `--enable-libreswan-dh2`
configure switch.

The above proposals are equivalent to setting the following phase 1 and 2
algorithms in the **Advanced** section of NetworkManager-l2tp's IPsec Options
dialog box:

**Phase 1 algorithms** with libreswan :

    aes256-sha2_256-modp2048,aes256-sha2_256-modp1536,aes256-sha2_256-modp1024,aes256-sha1-modp2048,aes256-sha1-modp1536,aes256-sha1-modp1024,aes256-sha1-ecp_384,aes128-sha1-modp1024,aes128-sha1-ecp_256,3des-sha1-modp2048,3des-sha1-modp1024

**Phase 2 algorithms** with libreswan :

    aes256-sha1,aes128-sha1,3des-sha1

**Phase 1 algorithms** with strongSwan :

    aes256-sha2_256-modp2048,aes256-sha2_256-modp1536,aes256-sha2_256-modp1024,aes256-sha1-modp2048,aes256-sha1-modp1536,aes256-sha1-modp1024,aes256-sha1-ecp384,aes128-sha1-modp1024,aes128-sha1-ecp256,3des-sha1-modp2048,3des-sha1-modp1024!

**Phase 2 algorithms** with strongSwan :

    aes256-sha1,aes128-sha1,3des-sha1!

If you are not sure if you are using libreswan or strongSwan, issue the
following on the command-line:

```
ipsec --version
```

If you are concerned about security and wish to use algorithms that are
stronger than the proposals offered by Windows 10 and macOS/iOS/iPadOS
L2TP/IPsec clients, user specified phase 1 (*ike* - Main Mode) and phase 2
(*esp* - Quick Mode) algorithms can be specified in the IPsec Options dialog
box. Please see the libreswan or strongSwan `ipsec.conf` documentation for the
*ike* and *esp* (aka *phase2alg*) syntax.

If you are not sure which IKEv1 Phase 1 algorithms your VPN server proposes,
you can query the VPN server with the `ike-scan.sh` script located in the
IPsec IKEv1 algorithms section of the Wiki :
* https://github.com/nm-l2tp/NetworkManager-l2tp/wiki/Known-Issues
