• mindlight@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    159
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    6 months ago

    PCWorld:

    Microsoft’s latest Windows update breaks VPNs, and there’s no fix

    What Microsoft actually said:

    Windows devices might face VPN connection failures after installing the April 2024 security update, or KB5036893. We are working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release

    I’m so fed up with everyone trying to make a quick buck on our constant struggle to stay safe.

    • w2tpmf@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      36
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      The reality is that it broke "something* in certain lpt2/ipsec connections using certain authentication protocols, although they haven’t yet specified which particular connection technologies are affected.

      However this does not mean that a blanket affect of ALL VPN connection not working is an issue.

      So far we are unaffected on clients using ipsec and PAP protocol authentication, nor connections using Anyconnect (aka Cisco Secure Connect).

      I have also not seen any affect on private VPN clients such as PIA or Nord on machines that have this update.

      I suspect what broke was clients using MSChap, Microsoft’s own protocol for authentication for VPN clients.

      Source: an admin with 200+ client machines with VPN connections that are not impacted after installing this update.

  • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    75
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    6 months ago

    I dunno man. I’m convinced that pretty much any mention of VPN these days is just an ad for vpns. That’s with this article looks like.

    • Zaemz@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      43
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      6 months ago

      Yeah, you’re not wrong that the article kinda sets itself up for the “lookit our recommended VPNs” pitch.

      There’s no way Microsoft would purposefully disable VPNs from working. I can guarantee that they require VPNs for thousands of roles in the company, let alone breaking it for government agencies that require VPNs, etc.

      It is good to know that a specific update can break something ahead of time, though. Then at least you can avoid it.

      • Kiernian@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        16
        ·
        6 months ago

        There’s no way Microsoft would purposefully disable VPNs from working

        No, but they’ve done it accidentally before.

        One time a few years ago it broke all LT2P VPN’s unless you removed a specific KB########.

        IIRC, six months later there was still no fix.

        I think it’s been fixed now, though.

    • Kethal@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      19
      ·
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      My workplace requires VPN for Web sites that are authenticated, require 2FA and are encrypted. It’s infuriatingly stupid. I feel like someone higher up got sold a useless contract by a good VPN salesperson.

      • RubberDuck@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        40
        ·
        6 months ago

        Most likely all connections are run through the gateway of the company allowing them to apply security to all web traffic on their clients.

        It might hinder you but there is plenty of method to this madness.

      • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        15
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        6 months ago

        I applaud your IT leadership/CIO for being willing to do this.

        Most companies are far too passive and think “aIt won’t happen to us”.

        I’ve seen companies scammed of $1mil in a single transaction because they sent credentials in email, to a scammer.

        Had they used a credential management system this wouldn’t have happened.

        Every layer of security helps.

  • cy_narrator@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    27
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    6 months ago

    It may be unintentional bug. People in the enterprise world need VPN for corporate purposes, they will fix it dont worry

      • sgibson5150@slrpnk.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        21
        ·
        6 months ago

        Mmm what?

        WireGuard® is an extremely simple yet fast and modern VPN that utilizes state-of-the-art cryptography. It aims to be faster, simpler, leaner, and more useful than IPsec, while avoiding the massive headache. It intends…

        • Dran@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          edit-2
          6 months ago

          Yeah I’m really curious what his take is going to be on this one lol. Technically it doesn’t have a layer-2 capable bridge mode like other VPN solutions like openvpn, but that’s about all I can think of. It’s still objectively a virtual network, made private by a keypair exchange.

          Probably just blindly paroting something someone told him. Awkward way to learn that one lmao.

  • BaroqueInMind@kbin.run
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    13
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    edit-2
    6 months ago

    Looks like their policy to prefer cheap labor they hire from Asia rather than paying local U.S. developers a living wage is starting to bite them in the ass.

  • Holzkohlen@feddit.de
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    6 months ago

    You are gonna test the software for a multi-billion dollar cooperation and you are gonna like it!

    • Coreidan@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      6 months ago

      Why? The entire business world uses and needs VPNs. This accomplishes nothing for MS. There will be a PR shit storm in MS from every direction if they don’t fix it.

      I’d agree if this only affected normal people but it also affects every corporation that does business with MS.

        • lurch (he/him)@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          6 months ago

          The problem is bureaucratic: Using them with Wine is not the manufacturers intent, so it may break for a while and theres nothing the manufacturer will do to fix it. The companies of the users often don’t dare rely on this. It’s also why some companies require to use redhat or ubuntu for a distro, because they don’t dare running anything without a support contract. They think that way there’s someone external to blame, call for help or sue, if things break. I’m not a fan of this, but encountered it a few times on different jobs. At my current job one of our clients has this with redhat and tbh they actually had to call redhat support twice this year, because their server got messed up during upgrades.

        • VodkaSolution @feddit.it
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          6 months ago

          Big files? No issues? They have problems on Win, I can’t imagine on Wine (that I find fine for almost everything else)

    • pycorax@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      Games. I have a Steam Deck so yea I get that Proton works really well now but it’s still not perfect. And also I write software for customers that use Windows so ¯\(ツ)

      • just_another_person@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        7
        ·
        6 months ago

        Games aren’t an issue. If you are still in a world where your local machine is a dev environment, that’s a different story. Sorry.

        • Coreidan@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          6 months ago

          Yes games very much are an issue. You are naive and ignorant if you think Linux can play every single game without hang ups.

          For example if you play iRacing you don’t have much of a choice but to be on windows.

          You people telling others to get on Linux are tone deaf as fuck.

          • asudox@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            6 months ago

            I agree. While I still think Linux is superior overall, software compatibility is mostly about the market share, so Windows is the best for gamers.