FortiGate
FortiGate Next Generation Firewall utilizes purpose-built security processors and threat intelligence security services from FortiGuard labs to deliver top-rated protection and high performance, including encrypted traffic.
fwilliams
Staff & Editor
Staff & Editor
Article Id 257328
Description

This article is a guide for resolving issue where VPN tunnel between FortiGate and Sophos Firewall goes down every 10 – 15 minutes or so.

Scope FortiGate.
Solution

In IKE debug whenever the link goes down, the output similar to the below IKE debug will be:

 

ike 0:VPN-TEST:1441926: notify msg received: PAYLOAD-MALFORMED <<<<<<

ike 0:VPN-TEST: link fail 3 100.100.100.100->200.200.200.200:4500 dpd=2

ike 0:VPN-TEST: link down 3 100.100.100.100->200.200.200.200:4500

ike 0:VPN-TEST: deleting

ike 0:VPN-TEST: flushing

ike 0:VPN-TEST: deleting IPsec SA with SPI c8cec246

ike 0:VPN-TEST:VPN-TEST: deleted IPsec SA with SPI c8cec246, SA count: 0

 

Notice the issue is around phase2 IPsec SA.

Check the VPN phase2’s configuration on FortiGate, and see if PFS (perfect forward secrecy) is enabled.

If it is, turn it off.

It is also possible to receive this error if there is a mismatch in phase1 parameter, however in that case the tunnel will not come up, unlike this case where it’s up but unstable.

 

Note:

Below is how to run IKE debug on FortiGate.

 

diag vpn ike log filter clear

diag vpn ike log-filter dst-addr4  x.x.x.x   <----- IP address of Sophos Firewall.

diag debug app ike -1

diagnose debug enable

 

Note:

Starting from v7.4.1, the filter command has changed to:

 

diagnose debug ike log filter rem-addr4