Bug 2360779 - Networks manager VPNC configuration panel is empty / missing input fields
Summary: Networks manager VPNC configuration panel is empty / missing input fields
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED ERRATA
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: NetworkManager-vpnc
Version: 42
Hardware: x86_64
OS: Linux
unspecified
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Christian Krause
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2025-04-17 18:32 UTC by Riccardo R.
Modified: 2025-05-22 20:53 UTC (History)
7 users (show)

Fixed In Version: NetworkManager-vpnc-1.4.0-3.fc42
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2025-05-15 01:55:35 UTC
Type: ---
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)


Links
System ID Private Priority Status Summary Last Updated
Red Hat Bugzilla 2366041 0 medium ASSIGNED selinux denials since f42 2026-08-30 09:54:20 UTC
Red Hat Bugzilla 2366205 0 low CLOSED SELinux is preventing nm-vpnc-service from 'execute_no_trans' accesses on the file /usr/bin/consolehelper. 2026-04-19 04:25:03 UTC

Description Riccardo R. 2025-04-17 18:32:16 UTC
The UI panel for configuring a VPNC connection is empty — no input fields or options are displayed.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Go to "Impostazioni" (Settings)
2.Go to "Rete" (Network)
3.Add a "VPN" compatibile con Cisco (VPNC)
4.Go to "Identità" (Identity)



Actual Results:
I get "Errore: impossibile caricare l'editor di connessioni VPN" (Error: unable to load VPN connection editor)

Expected Results:
Show the input fields

Additional Information:
The issue occurs consistently on Fedora Workstation 42 (fully updated), while the same setup works perfectly on Fedora 41.

Comment 1 Christian Krause 2025-05-03 00:31:05 UTC
I started to debug the issue - here are my initial results:

- gnome-control-center is trying to load /usr/lib64/NetworkManager/libnm-gtk4-vpn-plugin-vpnc-editor.so
- dlopen works, but dlsym fails when trying to get the address of the function "nm_vpn_editor_factory_vpnc"
- when checking the exported symbols of the *.so file, there are nearly none:

nm -D /usr/lib64/NetworkManager/libnm-vpn-plugin-vpnc-editor.so
                 w __cxa_finalize
                 w __gmon_start__
                 U g_static_resource_fini
                 U g_static_resource_init
                 w _ITM_deregisterTMCloneTable
                 w _ITM_registerTMCloneTable

- in NetworkManager-vpnc-gnome-1.2.8, there are many more symbols and there is also the missing "nm_vpn_editor_factory_vpnc" method in the text section of that shared object:

nm -D /usr/lib64/NetworkManager/libnm-gtk4-vpn-plugin-vpnc-editor.so |grep nm_vpn_editor_factory_vpnc
0000000000004080 T nm_vpn_editor_factory_vpnc

- why there are so many symbols missing in NetworkManager-vpnc-gnome-1.4.0's libnm-vpn-plugin-vpnc-editor.so I'm not sure...

Comment 2 Christian Krause 2025-05-05 23:48:36 UTC
I found the issue and provided a patch upstream: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/NetworkManager-vpnc/-/merge_requests/19.

@lkundrak if the patch is OK for you, I can "provenpackage" the update in Fedora for rawhide and F42.

Comment 3 Fedora Update System 2025-05-12 18:02:23 UTC
FEDORA-2025-e303622939 (NetworkManager-vpnc-1.4.0-3.fc42) has been submitted as an update to Fedora 42.
https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2025-e303622939

Comment 4 Fedora Update System 2025-05-13 01:57:33 UTC
FEDORA-2025-e303622939 has been pushed to the Fedora 42 testing repository.
Soon you'll be able to install the update with the following command:
`sudo dnf upgrade --enablerepo=updates-testing --refresh --advisory=FEDORA-2025-e303622939`
You can provide feedback for this update here: https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2025-e303622939

See also https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA:Updates_Testing for more information on how to test updates.

Comment 5 Fedora Update System 2025-05-15 01:55:35 UTC
FEDORA-2025-e303622939 (NetworkManager-vpnc-1.4.0-3.fc42) has been pushed to the Fedora 42 stable repository.
If problem still persists, please make note of it in this bug report.

Comment 6 Peter Mumenthaler 2025-05-15 11:12:54 UTC
The UI Panel is now working. 

But activating the connection does not work due to SELinux denial. 

#nmcli con up id HOME                                        4 
Error: Connection activation failed: The VPN service failed to start
Hint: use 'journalctl -xe NM_CONNECTION=787e342d-671f-4837-b5d4-d9ebb0cd82aa + NM_DEVICE=wlp2s0' to get more details.

#journalctl -xe NM_CONNECTION=787e342d-671f-4837-b5d4-d9ebb0cd82aa
NetworkManager[1893]: <warn>  [1747307040.8455] vpn[0x5626d9735e90,787e342d-671    f-4837-b5d4-d9ebb0cd82aa,"HOME"]: failed to connect: 'Failed to execute child process “/usr/sbin/vpnc”     (Permission denied)'
#journalctl -f 
May 15 13:08:39 fedora NetworkManager[1893]: <info>  [1747307319.9930] agent-manager: agent[bdf7ab0f8a645e73,:1.248/nmcli-connect/1000]: agent registered
May 15 13:08:40 fedora NetworkManager[1893]: <info>  [1747307320.0088] vpn[0x5626d9735e90,787e342d-671f-4837-b5d4-d9ebb0cd82aa,"HOME"]: starting vpnc
May 15 13:08:40 fedora NetworkManager[1893]: <info>  [1747307320.0090] audit: op="connection-activate" uuid="787e342d-671f-4837-b5d4-d9ebb0cd82aa" name="HOME" pid=9356 uid=1000 result="success"
May 15 13:08:40 fedora audit[9372]: AVC avc:  denied  { execute } for  pid=9372 comm="nm-vpnc-service" name="consolehelper" dev="dm-0" ino=637909 scontext=system_u:system_r:NetworkManager_t:s0 tcontext=system_u:object_r:consolehelper_exec_t:s0 tclass=file permissive=0
May 15 13:08:40 fedora audit[9385]: AVC avc:  denied  { execute } for  pid=9385 comm="nm-vpnc-service" name="consolehelper" dev="dm-0" ino=637909 scontext=system_u:system_r:NetworkManager_t:s0 tcontext=system_u:object_r:consolehelper_exec_t:s0 tclass=file permissive=0
May 15 13:08:40 fedora NetworkManager[1893]: <warn>  [1747307320.1245] vpn[0x5626d9735e90,787e342d-671f-4837-b5d4-d9ebb0cd82aa,"HOME"]: failed to connect: 'Failed to execute child process “/usr/sbin/vpnc” (Permission denied)'

#setenforce 0
#nmcli con up id HOME 
Connection successfully activated (D-Bus active path: /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/36)

-> all works as expected

Comment 7 Riccardo R. 2025-05-22 11:18:38 UTC
I can confirm the above report.

Now the panel is working but you get an SELinux error.

If I disable SELinux (getenforce -> disabled) the vpn works correctly.

Don't know if I should open another bug report.

Comment 8 Christian Krause 2025-05-22 20:53:42 UTC
(In reply to Riccardo R. from comment #7)

> Now the panel is working but you get an SELinux error.
> 
> If I disable SELinux (getenforce -> disabled) the vpn works correctly.
> 
> Don't know if I should open another bug report.

There are already two bug report for the selinux-policy component for the SELinux issue:

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2366041
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2366205

Please subscribe to them for updates.


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