Bitdefender Stops All Internet Traffic After Cisco Vpn Client Connects Server

sreed

I am running BD Internet Security 2009 on Win XP sp3. Everything is fine but when I connect to a VPN server using Cisco VPN client version 4.6.00.0049 all internet traffic stops. If I ping a domain name, I get an error that it cannot find the host. This occurs even in Game Mode.

BTW, I get only timeouts when I ping any domain or IP address when not connected to VPN server, but internet works fine for TCP and SMTP.

Please help. My current contract requires that I get this working and so far the only workaround I have found is to uninstall BitDefender.

sreed

If I disable the firewall all these problems go away so it's something that is apparently caused by some firewall feature that is still enabled in Game Mode.

sreed

I noticed that setting the firewall rule for the vpn client to apply only to locally connected computers allows TCP/UDP traffic to flow but the VPN still doesn't work unless the firewall is disabled. This is pretty screwed up.

Unknown

Cisco VPN client will come by default with an internal firewall so please make sure it is disabled before proceeding to the following steps.

In BitDefender - Firewall - under Settings you will have "Advanced settings" - please uncheck "Block port scan" and make sure that "Enable Intrusion detection system (IDS)" is unchecked. Now go to Network in the upper menu, look for the adapter created for the VPN in the list and set the Trust level to "Trusted local", Stealth to "Off" and generic to "Yes". If you know the address of the VPN server add it to the Zones section on the same page after selecting the VPN virtual adapter using the "+" sign.

Try to connect using these settings. If the connection is still unsuccessful please uncheck "Enable Transparent tunneling" on the connection window for the VPN client and see if it works like that.

sreed

I think I set it up as you suggest, Diana, but it's behaving the same way. Please let me know if you see anything I missed.

It doesn't seem to make any difference how I set transparent tunneling.

Unknown

In order to better troubleshoot this issue I will create a ticket in the support database and send you some diagnostic tools - please check your Inbox and reply to my e-mail when you have the time.

sreed

I rebooted and now things seem to be working ok.

Thanks for your help, Diana.

acherner

I'm trying to resolve this problem right now and still not having any luck. I can connect to my work's VPN, but can't establish a remote desktop connection to any of various machines. Can somebody help?

I tried following the suggestions above:

- unchecked "Stateful Firewall (Always On)" in VPN Client

- unchecked "Enable Transparent Tunneling" in VPN Client

- unchecked "Block Port Scans" in Firewall->Advanced Settings

- changed the values for VPN adapter in Network Configurations table on the Network tab as indicated above

- added the zone for the VPN adapter (not sure if that's the right value - i just used whatever came up in that window)

But still not able to establish a remote desktop connection (unless i disable the firewall completely)

Is there anything I can do?

sreed

@Archerner: You don't mention disabling "Enable Intrusion detection system (IDS)" in Advanced Settings, but I'm guessing you've tried that. Also, note that I had to reboot to get it to work.

Note, however, I found the VPN was broken again today. Luckily I have my router set up at home to filter pretty well so disabling the BD firewall is only a problem when I am using a connection in the wild.

acherner

Yes, "Enable Intrusion detection system (IDS)" was disabled from the beginning.

Really seems like there should be an easy solution (other than disabling the firewall entirely). After all, I can connect to the VPN. Seems like there ought to be something i can do to be able to remote connect to other computers on the network.

sreed

I agree. BitDefender's firewall implementation has LOT to be desired. The user interface is opaque and poorly documented. For example, I have not been able to figure out how to open or close a port. Instead there are a bunch of "modes" and "zones".

acherner

Guys, can somebody pls help out?

I'm a total newb at this and don't have much experience with other AV products. But this seems ridiculous. So many people are having problems. Customer support is simply non-existent!

I'm quickly approaching a point of biting the bullet, uninstalling this thing and getting a better (hopefully) product.

On top of all my other issues with BD, for some reason my wireless WIFI at home keeps crapping out. I dont' see how this can be related to BD, but used to never happen before I installed it. UGH!#@$!#$!#$

sreed

@Acherner: I have also seen my network connections intermittently fail and self-heal since I installed BD. Perhaps it is delays due to BD processing that are causing timeouts. I don't know. That's something for the BD folks to own up to. So far these problems are tolerable but VPN not working when the firewall is enabled interferes with my work when I'm on the road so I may join you in dropping this product.

Unknown

Hello acherner and Scott Reed,

What we have recommended are basic settings in the product that you can try in order to see if we can obtain an easy resolution for this issue. In order to continue the troubleshooting process we would need to have a look at a Firewall activity log generated on your system - the issue is that since it contains private IP addresses this information is not safe to be posted on a public forum.

Thus I have created support tickets for both: for acherner we have created Ticket ID 200905061007714 and for Scott Reed we have Ticket ID 200905061007756.

Thank you!

sreed

Today I am not seeing any problems with VPN. Perhaps today's update included a patch for this bug.