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kaman
Staff
kaman
Staff
April 9, 2026

Troubleshooting Tip: HTTPS GUI Access Failure in FortiGate v7.6.4 and later with an error 'Failed to connect to /tmp/http_authd_req: Connection refused' in Crashlog Output

  • April 9, 2026
  • 0 replies
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Description


This article describes the issue where FortiGate GUI access is not working in firmware version 7.6.4 and later. However, SSH access to the device continues to function normally.

Scope


FortiGate.

Solution


After upgrading to firmware version 7.6.4 or later, the GUI may display an 'ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED' error.

In the below sniffer output, it can be seen that the firewall is sending the RST packet in response to the SYN (connection initiation).

port2 in 10.2.2.2.58189 -> 10.1.1.1.443: syn 3366770127
port2 out 10.1.1.1.443 -> 10.2.2.2.58189: rst 0 ack 3366770128

Access to the GUI may fail for administrators when using either the internal or external IP address of the FortiGate, while SSH access continues to function normally.

Modifying the HTTPS management port does not resolve the issue.

The following crashes may be observed in the 'diagnose debug crashlog read' output:

FGT # diagnose debug crashlog read

2310: 2026-03-20 13:18:26 <02374> Node.JS restarted: (unhandled rejection)
2311: 2026-03-20 13:18:26 <02374> "Failed to connect to /tmp/http_authd_req: Connection refused."
2312: 2026-03-20 13:18:26 <02374>
2313: 2026-03-20 13:18:26 <02374> Node.JS restarted: (unhandled rejection)
2314: 2026-03-20 13:18:26 <02374> "Failed to connect to /tmp/http_authd_req: Connection refused."

 

Starting with FortiOS v7.6.4, a new internal daemon called http_authd has been introduced. This daemon centralizes the administrative web authentication and authorization functions required by web service processes.

After upgrading to FortiOS v7.6.4, administrators may notice a new process named http_authd appearing in system process listings, such as diagnose sys top or fnsysctl ps.

The following debug commands can be used to view authentication-related logs:

diagnose debug reset
diagnose debug console timestamp enable
diagnose debug application http_authd -1
diagnose debug enable


To stop debugging, run:

diagnose debug disable
diagnose debug reset

No output is seen in the httpsd and http_authd debug output of 'diagnose debug application http_authd -1' when attempting to access the GUI of the FortiGate.

This issue can be resolved by restarting the http_authd process. Refer to the document: Technical Tip: How to restart/kill one or several processes on the FortiGate with CLI commands.


If the issue persists after restarting the http_authd process, review system event logs for indicators of malicious or brute-force attempts targeting FortiGate administrative access. Upon confirmation, disable HTTPS access on the public-facing interface.


config system interface
    edit <external-interface-name>
        unset allowaccess
end

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