Bitdefender Firewall not working with expressvpn after update to 27.0.18.96

Petersl

After bitdefender updated to version 27.0.18.96 today the firewall is no longer working when connected with the expressvpn app, it's no longer making rules when using the expressvpn app on windows, even when I manually add firewall rules for example firefox it does not block connections to websites when I disable the firefox rule when connected with expressvpn, the firewall does work normally when not connected with the expressvpn or when connected with the bitdefender vpn (I only have the free one so can't really use it anyway). I have this issue on 2 windows 10 computers since just today.

The previous version 27.0.16.87 also had the firewall not working, you guys from BD then fixed it to your credit within a few hour and it worked normally after the fix also with expressvpn but now again after the update to 27.0.18.96 it doesn't work properly again! What's going on? Is this going to become the norm now?

Alexandru_BD

Hello @Petersl,

Check the default application behavior firewall settings and see if it's set to allow for the express vpn adapter.

Regards

Petersl

@Alexandru_BD

It was set on automatic, when I set it to allow it still doesn't make any rules and when I set it to block it doesn't even block anything when I'm connected to the expressvpn. I have reset the rules and the only rule that's being made by the firewall is for the lightway.exe (this is a component of expressvpn) when I connected to the expressvpn, if I however disable the lightway.exe rule it does block traffic. Does this mean that all the rules are routed through the lightway.exe firewall rule when I'm connected to the expressvpn or does it mean when I'm connected to the expressvpn I basically have no firewall? It works normal when not connected to the expressvpn app.

Scott

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/328088#Comment_328088

In the Firewall settings, have you enabled Alert mode, restarted your PC, then ExpressVPN, and see if you get any connection notification(s) to allow it?

Otherwise, you should contact Support from the link below. Go through the How To's and Troubleshooting prompts until reach the black Contact Support box. You will have three options, Chat, email and phone support, which is not toll-free. Chat can be the quickest way to get things started. They will probably want you to send a log file or two, but they will let you know what and when they need those.

https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/help/

Kind regards,

Scott

Petersl

@Scott

I did what you said and it gave me notification to allow programs including expressvpn and lightway.exe, however I don't get the notifications when I'm connected to expressvpn only when not connected to expressvpn.

Petersl

@Alexandru_BD @Scott

I contacted support and they advised me to reinstall bitdefender which I did and I also reinstalled the expressvpn app, however the problem persists with the expressvpn app. I have now installed nordvpn as an alternative and that one works with the bitdefender firewall without issues (so far).

I will submit a ticked to expressvpn to make them aware of this issue.

Scott

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/328104#Comment_328104

Thanks for letting us know where you were at with this issue, for keeping us up to date, we appreciate it.

Don't let @Alexandru_BD know :) but I also have NordVPN on this notebook and have had very good results with it, no issues on my end.

Scott

justinkb

There seems to be a serious bug with the latest update. Somehow it mangles the drive letter name on applications trying to send packets, making existing rules not working. It tells me some application on "F:\\" is asking to send a TCP packet, whereas the exe is actually on "C:\" drive. Note the double backslash too, not sure what is up with that. I should note the F drive is the last drive (alphabetically) I have an assigned letter for, this might be relevant in tracking down the bug, might be an off-by-one bug, or something like that.

Petersl

@Alexandru_BD @Scott

Bitdefender firewall works with northvpn but it have noticed that when I'm connected with northvpn when I launch an application for example firefox it does not give a notification in the tab "notifications" when I launch a new program the firewall has not yet set a rule for, it works normal without the northvpn.

It's not a big deal cause the firewall does seem to work with northvpn, I tested it by disabling the firefox rule and when I do that firefox can't connect to sites, when reenabled the rule it can so it works. Just want to let you guys know cause I'm sure that's not intended.

Petersl

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/328131#Comment_328131

Update; after resetting the firewall rules notification work normally again also with northvpn.

Alexandru_BD

Glad to hear that @Petersl and thanks for following up!

Petersl

@Alexandru_BD @Scott

A friend who has bitdefender and also runs the expressvpn app has the same issue with it, when connected to expressvpn his firewall makes no rules and existing rules don't work and the "access application" tab in the firewall settings is blank when connected to expressvpn on my friend and my bitdefender, it works normal showing apps allowed by the firewall and the firewall rules work normal when not running expressvpn or when running norhtvpn.

Petersl

@Alexandru_BD @Scott

Bitdefender support has let me known that the developers are aware and are currently investigation an issue that causes this issue with expressvpn and the bitdefender firewall, they told me they will automatically update bitdefender when they have a fix.

Alexandru_BD

Good to know @Petersl, thank you for sharing this info with us! 👍️

Petersl

@Alexandru_BD @Scott

I have an update,

It's only the expressvpn lightway protocol that's not working with the bitdefender firewall, the expressvpn openVPN protocols (TCP and UDP) do work with the bitdefender firewall.

You guys probably already know I assume as you are working on a fix but I just figured this out now.

Alexandru_BD

Hi @Petersl,

Yes, after seeing your comment here I have checked the investigation records as well and noticed this information was recently added to the case. So far, the developers were unable to reproduce the behavior internally with Bitdefender VPN. Specifics:

• All rules are set to "Any network".
• Default application behavior that the adapter specific to the VPN is set to “Automatic”.

To get everyone up to speed with this issue, after the TS update 27.0.18.96 the blocked applications in the firewall regained Internet access when connected to a third-party VPN, namely ExpressVPN currently. The investigation is ongoing and we are expecting more updates to follow soon. Since you have also raised a ticket with the Support teams, they will keep you in the loop and follow up with the latest developments.

Thank you once again for sharing your findings with us.

Regards,

Alex

Petersl

@Alexandru_BD @Scott

Update:

I found a way around the expressvpn not working with the bitdefender firewall. As I said in my earlier post it's only the lightway protocol that has this issue, however when connecting with the openVPN protocols the bitdefender firewall works with it but you cannot use the expressvpn threat manager because you can only use the threat manager when connecting with "automatic" or "lightway" and when you connect with "automatic" it always defaults to the lightway protocol.

I found a way around this by disabling the "ExpressVPN TUN Driver" or the "ExpressVPN Wintun Driver" adapters (which ever you have depending on the version of expressvpn you running) in the "network connections" or in "device manager". This will force expressvpn to use the "ExpressVPN TAP Adapter" (which is the openVPN protocol) and you will have threat manager enabled and the bitdefender firewall will work with this.

Alexandru_BD

Petersl

@Alexandru_BD @Scott

Hi everyone,

Update: the expressvpn lightway protocol works again on my pc's since bitdefender total security version 27.0.38.163, however bitdefender support has let me know that this issue was not directly patched but got apparently fixed when they where making improvements in this latest version.

"There have been several improvements made in 27.0.38.163 and while we did not address the concerned issue directly, there have been other reports as well that this type of situation has been fixed with this version. "

Lets hope it stays fixed in the next versions.

Thx

Petersl

@Alexandru_BD @Scott

Hi everyone,

I have received a 1 year free subscription from bitdefender support as compensation for the time it took resolve the issue.

Thanks bitdefender support.

Alexandru_BD

Very nice @Petersl 👌

This is why I always advise to reach the Support teams whenever it is beyond our ability to find solutions here, because they have the means to troubleshoot at a more granular level and may also offer compensations for any inconvenience encountered. The level of assistance they provide goes beyond transactional support, and they are open to work together with the user to find tailored solutions and although sometimes delays may occur, they always come through.

Regards

Petersl

Hi @Alexandru_BD

Last month I got a mail from support: "Hello,

Thank you once again for your patience and understanding regarding this case.

I would like to let you know that we are still investigating your bug report, and our development team is working on a permanent fix. As of now, I do not have an estimated date when the fix will be available. Rest assured, I will send you an email once this is resolved.

Please let me know if you would still like to receive updates regarding this case."

I sent them a reply asking them if this is relating to the expressvpn issue with the bitdefender firewall and that this issue has already been resolved on my PC's (I've already told them this by mail several times months ago) and what the "fix" is that they are referring to as the bitdefender firewall is enforcing the rules when connected with the expressvpn app on my PC's.

I get a reply a few days later: "Hello Peter,

Thank you for your email.

Yes, the fix I'm referring to is about the firewall rules not being applied when a third-party VPN is connected.

We will send you an update as soon as we have one.

Have a lovely day ahead!"

I reply to them telling them again that the expressvpn app works on my PC's with the bitdefender firewall and I asked them if this issue is not fixed yet should I then not use the expressvpn app with bitdefender at this moment?

They reply to me today with a generic response and not answering my questions: "Hello Peter,

Thank you for getting back to us. I've noted your request to stay informed about the progress on the bug fix you reported. Rest assured, I will keep you updated with the latest developments as they occur.

Our development team is working diligently to resolve the issue, and I will make sure to send you a notification as soon as the fix has been deployed through the Bitdefender product updates.

In the meantime, if you have any further questions or need assistance with any other cyber-security concerns, please feel free to reach out. Your security is our top priority, and I'm here to ensure that your experience with Bitdefender remains seamless.

Thank you once again for your patience and for choosing Bitdefender.

Stay safe and have a great day!"

So I'm really confused here, it works again for me but support tells me they're still working on a permanent fix. So what is still needed to be fixed?

Should I not use expressvpn with bitdefender at the moment?

Is this issue only with the expressvpn app or does this also effect other third party VPN's?

Does support even read the mails? As I keep getting standard replies on my tickets with no answers to my questions even if I sent them several mails and it sometimes takes weeks before even getting a reply from support, very frustrating.

What is going on with support?

Alexandru_BD

Hi @Petersl,

Surely there has to be a misunderstanding here. I have asked one of our technical leads to check the case history and make an assessment to determine the accuracy of information provided to you. They will come back with a response as soon as the QA investigation is concluded.

Thank you for your patience and please accept my apologies for the inconvenience.

Regards

Petersl

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/349729#Comment_349729

Hi @Alexandru_BD

Thank you for checking on this, support has responded to me:

"Hello Peter,

Thank you for taking the time to share your opinions with us.

First of all, I wish to apologize for not answering your question directly in my last email.

We are glad to hear that the issue between our Firewall and Express VPN has been resolved on your end, we also received the same answer from a different customer who encountered the same behavior. What I meant by that we are still investigating the behavior is that we are still checking if any other 3rd party VPN services are being blocked while our Firewall is turned on, we do not consider this situation fixed until we confirm that all VPNs are working accordingly with our Firewall turned on.

Should you consider this matter closed, please let me know. I do wish to keep this ticket open for a few more days, for you to test if the issue will resurface in the near future.

As for the other tickets you mentioned, I will return to them with an update on the reported behaviors.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Have a nice day!"

I've let support know to inform me on the ticket when this will be fixed for all VPN's, I'll let you know on this community discussion when they inform me.

Alexandru_BD

Thank you for following up here @Petersl, much appreciated! 🤜🤛