Beta iOS 14.3 not working with VPN client on router

[csalsa]

Though I just updated to the 386.1 beta 2 on a RT-AC86U router this morning, I have had a no network and device connection issues for some time. Now I unable to connect to the Internet from iOS devices when the router VPN client is running.

I have a RT-AC86U router setup running the router VPN client connecting to Private Internet Access and have been using this setup for some years using previous released and beta versions of Asuswrt-Merlin. This setup has not changed for some years.

This morning, I also updated my iPad to iOS 14.3 and though it connects to the router WiFi AP, it will not connect to the Internet if I am running the VPN client. I have had no problems with iOS 14.2 and earlier. I do not have any other iOS devices to test iOS 14.2 against my router configuration/setup. I did temporarily revert to 386.1 beta 1 but still had the same Internet connection issue with iOS 14.3.

Other devices connecting to my router (running 386.1 beta 2) are WIndows 10 and 8.1 laptops and Android devices. No problems with these devices so far.

Next I will try using OpenVPN client (version 2.5) running on Windows 10 over my router running the VPN client. I use this for work purposes and again have not had problems in the past.

 

[csalsa]

It works. Running OpenVPN client (version 2.5) from Windows 10 and over RT-AC86U (386.1 beta 2) running router VPN client works (as it always has). I run the router VPN client as a catch-all for all network traffic.

All devices can connect to the router WiFi AP. So the only problem for me is now iOS devices running iOS 14.3 connecting to Internet when router VPN client is running.

The router system log looks fine and shows the router VPN client connecting as expected.

 

[csalsa]

I tried reverting to firmware release RT-AC86U_384.19_0 and I had no problem with accessing the Internet from iOS 14.3 using the router VPN client.

So there is a change in the 386.1 beta that is incompatible with iOS 14.3 devices and the router VPN client.

 

[L&LD]

Try using the Beta 2 instead.

Flash 386.1 Beta 2, reset to factory defaults. Do not use a saved backup config file. Configure your scratch, minimally and manually.

 

[john9527]

So there is a change in the 386.1 beta that is incompatible with iOS 14.3 devices and the router VPN client.

Not sure of your entire configuration, but are you sure your iPad didn't detect the changes in beta1 as a new access point and assign a new mac address (which would result in a different ip being assigned). If you have mac/ip based rules on the router, they would no longer work.

 

[clvk07]

I am on 384.19 AC86U / I[hone 12 IOS 14.2 and have the same issue. Was fine with IOS 14.1 . Iphone OPENVPN Connects, but no internet

 

[csalsa]

I am on 384.19 AC86U / I[hone 12 IOS 14.2 and have the same issue. Was fine with IOS 14.1 . Iphone OPENVPN Connects, but no internet

I had no problem with IOS 14.2 and 384.19 using router VPN client. I was running that configuration for some time (from when 384.19 was released until 386.1 beta 1 and I upgraded).

I have now tried an iPad some years old, iPhone 11 and iPhone 7. Unfortunately, I updated all at the same time and do not have any on the IOS 14.2.

I reverted the router back to 384.19 and could access the Internet from the IOS devices using the router VPN client. I rolled forward to 386.1 beta 2 with factory reset and same issue. I can connect to the wireless AP successfully but cannot access the Internet from there.

 

[csalsa]

Not sure of your entire configuration, but are you sure your iPad didn't detect the changes in beta1 as a new access point and assign a new mac address (which would result in a different ip being assigned). If you have mac/ip based rules on the router, they would no longer work.

I did a IOS "Reset Network Settings" on two of the IOS devices and configured the Wireless access. I tried with the IOS 14.3 feature "Private Address" both on and off. Nothing worked.
I do not use mac/ip rules and the only router feature I am using is the VPN client.

Interesting I cannot connect to the router home page from the IOS device though the IOS device shows successfully connecting to Wireless AP.

 

[csalsa]

Try using the Beta 2 instead.

Flash 386.1 Beta 2, reset to factory defaults. Do not use a saved backup config file. Configure your scratch, minimally and manually.

Flashed 386.1 beta 2 and did factory reset. Configured manually. But still a problem for IOS devices.
All Windows and Android devices working fine.

 

[L&LD]

What did you configure exactly?

 

[csalsa]

Found the problem. Guest WiFi does not route correctly through router VPN client.

I went back to the beginning to think of what testing I could do and I realised all the IOS devices were connected to the Guest WiFi network. The devices always register successfully connected to the Wireless AP on the device but cannot access the Internet or the router home page on the IP gateway address on the Guest WiFi.

I verified this by connecting IOS devices to the main WiFi and android devices to the Guest WiFi. IOS devices started working and Android devices stopped working.

 

[csalsa]

How are defects reported? Is this post sufficient or is there a bug report to be raised?

 

[L&LD]

No one 'official' is monitoring these forums (or at least not this thread).

You would need to report any issues to Asus, Apple, etc., directly.

But you would need to be running stock Asus firmware first. Released, not Alpha, Beta, or RC versions.