Page MenuHomeVyOS Platform

IPsec service fails after upgrading from 1.3.8 to 1.4.2 if protocol all is configured
Closed, ResolvedPublicBUG

Description

Description:

IPsec service failed to restart when this set vpn ipsec site-to-site peer 192.0.2.1 tunnel 1 protocol 'all' exists in the configuration prior to 1.3.8 version and then upgraded to 1.4.2 version.

VyOS 1.3.8(strongSwan 5.7.2) uses ipsec.conf and it used to convert "all" to "%any" . Also all option was available in cli:

vyos@vyos# set vpn ipsec site-to-site peer 192.0.2.1 tunnel 10 protocol
Possible completions:
   <text>       IP protocol name from /etc/protocols (e.g. "gre" or "tcp")
   <0-255>      IP protocol number
   ah
   all

ipsec.conf snippet:

conn peer-192.0.2.1-tunnel-1
left=192.168.255.106
right=192.0.2.1
leftsubnet=10.2.2.0/24
rightsubnet=10.50.0.0/24[%any/%any]
leftsubnet=10.2.2.0/24[%any/%any]
ike=aes256gcm128-sha256-ecp256!
keyexchange=ikev2
reauth=no
ikelifetime=36000s

Post upgrade to 1.4 version, the command converts to `set vpn ipsec site-to-site peer peer_192-0-2-1 tunnel 1 protocol 'all' without any migration issue but the strongswan service fails to start with the following error message:

Jun 25 12:01:54 swanctl[3833]: loading connection 'peer_192-0-2-1' failed: invalid value for: local_ts, config discarded
Jun 25 12:01:54 systemd[1]: strongswan.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jun 25 12:01:54 systemd[1]: Failed to start strongswan.service - strongSwan IPsec IKEv1/IKEv2 daemon using swanctl.

strongSwan 5.9.11 version is not accepting the syntax 10.2.2.0/24[all/], only specific protocol has to be defined like : set vpn ipsec site-to-site peer peer_192-0-2-1 tunnel 1 protocol tcp

children {
    peer_192-0-2-1-tunnel-1 {
        esp_proposals = aes256gcm128-sha256-ecp256
        life_time = 10800s
        local_ts = 10.2.2.0/24[all/]
        remote_ts = 10.50.0.0/24[all/]

If directly tried the command in 1.4.2, service fails with commit then recovers in seconds but peer configuration is not seen in loaded connection, verified with 'swanctl -L` command

vyos@vyos# commit
[ vpn ipsec ]
Job for strongswan.service failed.
See "systemctl status strongswan.service" and "journalctl -xeu strongswan.service" for details.

Attached configuration to test in 1.4.2.

Details

Version
1.4.2
Is it a breaking change?
Perfectly compatible
Issue type
Bug (incorrect behavior)

Event Timeline

SrividyaA triaged this task as Normal priority.
Viacheslav raised the priority of this task from Normal to High.Jun 26 2025, 2:51 PM
Viacheslav changed the task status from Open to In progress.Jul 28 2025, 9:30 AM
Viacheslav assigned this task to o.kuchmystyi.
Viacheslav moved this task from Need Triage to Completed on the VyOS Rolling board.
Viacheslav moved this task from Open to Finished on the VyOS 1.5 Circinus (1.5-stream-2025-Q3) board.
Viacheslav moved this task from Backlog to Finished on the VyOS 1.4 Sagitta (1.4.4) board.
dmbaturin changed Is it a breaking change? from Unspecified (possibly destroys the router) to Perfectly compatible.