Unable to get NordVPN to work with Asus RT-AX82U

[villagedoctor]

Greetings:

I followed the instructions below on Nord VPN's site to set up my Asus RT-AX82U router, but I can't seem to get the OpenVPN client on the router to connect to the VPN.

How to Set Up VPN on Asus Router

Please note: For a smooth experience, your router needs to be running OpenVPN 2.4.x. Here's how to check the OpenVPN version. If you have a newer Asus WRT firmware, check this guide on how to conne...

support.nordvpn.com

The following are the router sys log entries related to the connection attempt. Does anyone have any ideas why this is happening?

Aug 6 17:53:45 rc_service: httpd 1456:notify_rc restart_vpncall
Aug 6 17:53:45 vpnclient5[11672]: OpenVPN 2.4.7 arm-buildroot-linux-gnueabi [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [LZ4] [EPOLL] [MH/PKTINFO] [AEAD] built on Oct 20 2020
Aug 6 17:53:45 vpnclient5[11672]: library versions: OpenSSL 1.0.2u 20 Dec 2019, LZO 2.03
Aug 6 17:53:45 vpnclient5[11673]: WARNING: --ping should normally be used with --ping-restart or --ping-exit
Aug 6 17:53:45 vpnclient5[11673]: NOTE: the current --script-security setting may allow this configuration to call user-defined scripts
Aug 6 17:53:45 vpnclient5[11673]: NOTE: --fast-io is disabled since we are not using UDP
Aug 6 17:53:45 vpnclient5[11673]: Outgoing Control Channel Authentication: Using 512 bit message hash 'SHA512' for HMAC authentication
Aug 6 17:53:45 vpnclient5[11673]: Incoming Control Channel Authentication: Using 512 bit message hash 'SHA512' for HMAC authentication
Aug 6 17:53:45 vpnclient5[11673]: TCP/UDP: Preserving recently used remote address: [AF_INET]212.102.50.86:443
Aug 6 17:53:45 vpnclient5[11673]: Socket Buffers: R=[87380->87380] S=[16384->16384]
Aug 6 17:53:45 vpnclient5[11673]: Attempting to establish TCP connection with [AF_INET]212.102.50.86:443 [nonblock]
Aug 6 17:53:46 vpnclient5[11673]: TCP connection established with [AF_INET]212.102.50.86:443
Aug 6 17:53:46 vpnclient5[11673]: TCP_CLIENT link local: (not bound)
Aug 6 17:53:46 vpnclient5[11673]: TCP_CLIENT link remote: [AF_INET]212.102.50.86:443
Aug 6 17:53:46 vpnclient5[11673]: TLS: Initial packet from [AF_INET]212.102.50.86:443, sid=e5f9cc1f 9ecfd092
Aug 6 17:53:46 vpnclient5[11673]: WARNING: this configuration may cache passwords in memory -- use the auth-nocache option to prevent this
Aug 6 17:53:47 vpnclient5[11673]: VERIFY OK: depth=2, C=PA, O=NordVPN, CN=NordVPN Root CA
Aug 6 17:53:47 vpnclient5[11673]: VERIFY OK: depth=1, O=NordVPN, CN=NordVPN CA8
Aug 6 17:53:47 vpnclient5[11673]: VERIFY KU OK
Aug 6 17:53:47 vpnclient5[11673]: Validating certificate extended key usage
Aug 6 17:53:47 vpnclient5[11673]: ++ Certificate has EKU (str) TLS Web Server Authentication, expects TLS Web Server Authentication
Aug 6 17:53:47 vpnclient5[11673]: VERIFY EKU OK
Aug 6 17:53:47 vpnclient5[11673]: VERIFY X509NAME OK: CN=jp590.nordvpn.com
Aug 6 17:53:47 vpnclient5[11673]: VERIFY OK: depth=0, CN=jp590.nordvpn.com
Aug 6 17:53:47 vpnclient5[11673]: Control Channel: TLSv1.2, cipher TLSv1/SSLv3 ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384, 4096 bit RSA
Aug 6 17:53:47 vpnclient5[11673]: [jp590.nordvpn.com] Peer Connection Initiated with [AF_INET]212.102.50.86:443
Aug 6 17:53:48 vpnclient5[11673]: SENT CONTROL [jp590.nordvpn.com]: 'PUSH_REQUEST' (status=1)
Aug 6 17:53:49 vpnclient5[11673]: PUSH: Received control message: 'PUSH_REPLY,redirect-gateway def1,dhcp-option DNS 103.86.96.100,dhcp-option DNS 103.86.99.100,explicit-exit-notify,comp-lzo no,route-gateway 10.7.1.1,topology subnet,ping 60,ping-restart 180,ifconfig 10.7.1.4 255.255.255.0,peer-id 0,cipher AES-256-GCM'
Aug 6 17:53:49 vpnclient5[11673]: OPTIONS IMPORT: timers and/or timeouts modified
Aug 6 17:53:49 vpnclient5[11673]: OPTIONS IMPORT: --explicit-exit-notify can only be used with --proto udp
Aug 6 17:53:49 vpnclient5[11673]: OPTIONS IMPORT: compression parms modified
Aug 6 17:53:49 vpnclient5[11673]: OPTIONS IMPORT: --ifconfig/up options modified
Aug 6 17:53:49 vpnclient5[11673]: OPTIONS IMPORT: route options modified
Aug 6 17:53:49 vpnclient5[11673]: OPTIONS IMPORT: route-related options modified
Aug 6 17:53:49 vpnclient5[11673]: OPTIONS IMPORT: --ip-win32 and/or --dhcp-option options modified
Aug 6 17:53:49 vpnclient5[11673]: OPTIONS IMPORT: peer-id set
Aug 6 17:53:49 vpnclient5[11673]: OPTIONS IMPORT: adjusting link_mtu to 1659
Aug 6 17:53:49 vpnclient5[11673]: OPTIONS IMPORT: data channel crypto options modified
Aug 6 17:53:49 vpnclient5[11673]: Data Channel: using negotiated cipher 'AES-256-GCM'
Aug 6 17:53:49 vpnclient5[11673]: Outgoing Data Channel: Cipher 'AES-256-GCM' initialized with 256 bit key
Aug 6 17:53:49 vpnclient5[11673]: Incoming Data Channel: Cipher 'AES-256-GCM' initialized with 256 bit key
Aug 6 17:53:49 vpnclient5[11673]: TUN/TAP device tun15 opened
Aug 6 17:53:49 vpnclient5[11673]: TUN/TAP TX queue length set to 100
Aug 6 17:53:49 vpnclient5[11673]: /sbin/ifconfig tun15 10.7.1.4 netmask 255.255.255.0 mtu 1500 broadcast 10.7.1.255
Aug 6 17:53:49 vpnclient5[11673]: Linux ifconfig failed: could not execute external program
Aug 6 17:53:49 vpnclient5[11673]: Exiting due to fatal error

Ron

 

[Befuddled]

Hi, @villagedoctor ! Did you ever get NordVPN to work on your Asus router?

My router is the Asus ZenWifi XT8. I am having the same problem (altho I don't know if my log looks like yours). So far, Nord Support has been very unhelpful, although I think I may now be working with someone who is more knowledgeable.