L2TP VPN is not working on macOS after update to 11.7.2.

Same exact problem here. VPN was working just fine with 11.7. Since I upgraded to 11.72 VPN stopped working on five of our different computers. Located in five different locations outside of our office

Had the same issue here with an MBA M1, this is how I solved this mess

• have a actual timemachine backup ready
• find a guide how to download the full 11.7.1 installer and howto to create an USB Bootstick from them, MrMacintosh has some handy stuff about this
• boot into Recovery Mode and delete the APFS volumegroup wich holds Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD - Data
• try to reinstall the OS, I could only install Montery from there
• boot again from the USB media, this allowed me to install Big Sur 11.7.1
• After this is done, follow the usual procedure when switching on a MAC the first time, restore your Data from your timemachine backup

my vpn connectivity is back working

HTH

Same problem at my side, after upgrade Big Sur to 11.7.2 problem with L2TP/IPSEC VPN connection.

There are following messages in /var/log/ppp.log :

Mon Dec 19 12:54:25 2022 : publish_entry SCDSet() failed: Success!

Mon Dec 19 12:54:25 2022 : publish_entry SCDSet() failed: Success!

Mon Dec 19 12:54:25 2022 : l2tp_get_router_address

Mon Dec 19 12:54:25 2022 : l2tp_get_router_address x.x.x.x from dict 1

Mon Dec 19 12:54:25 2022 : L2TP connecting to server 'y.y.y.y' (y.y.y.y)...

Mon Dec 19 12:54:25 2022 : L2TP can't set L2TP server address: Cannot allocate memory

Mon Dec 19 12:54:25 2022 : IPSec connection started

Mon Dec 19 12:54:25 2022 : L2TP error sending Hello (Destination address required)

Mon Dec 19 12:54:25 2022 : Failed to send L2TP hello trigger. tried 0, max 10

Mon Dec 19 12:54:26 2022 : L2TP error sending Hello (Destination address required)

Mon Dec 19 12:54:26 2022 : Failed to send L2TP hello trigger. tried 0, max 10

Mon Dec 19 12:54:27 2022 : L2TP error sending Hello (Destination address required)

Mon Dec 19 12:54:27 2022 : Failed to send L2TP hello trigger. tried 0, max 10

Mon Dec 19 12:54:28 2022 : L2TP error sending Hello (Destination address required)

Mon Dec 19 12:54:28 2022 : Failed to send L2TP hello trigger. tried 0, max 10

Mon Dec 19 12:54:29 2022 : L2TP error sending Hello (Destination address required)

Mon Dec 19 12:54:29 2022 : Failed to send L2TP hello trigger. tried 0, max 10

Mon Dec 19 12:54:30 2022 : IPSec connection failed

Regards

Krzysztof

I'm having the same issue in my iMac

Tue Dec 20 16:15:10 2022 : publish_entry SCDSet() failed: Success!

Tue Dec 20 16:15:10 2022 : publish_entry SCDSet() failed: Success!

Tue Dec 20 16:15:10 2022 : l2tp_get_router_address

Tue Dec 20 16:15:10 2022 : l2tp_get_router_address 192.168.42.254 from dict 1

Tue Dec 20 16:15:10 2022 : L2TP connecting to server 'proper-address-here.com' (correct IP here)...

Tue Dec 20 16:15:10 2022 : L2TP can't set L2TP server address: Cannot allocate memory

Tue Dec 20 16:15:10 2022 : IPSec connection started

Tue Dec 20 16:15:10 2022 : L2TP error sending Hello (Destination address required)

Tue Dec 20 16:15:10 2022 : Failed to send L2TP hello trigger. tried 0, max 10

Tue Dec 20 16:15:11 2022 : L2TP error sending Hello (Destination address required)

Tue Dec 20 16:15:11 2022 : Failed to send L2TP hello trigger. tried 0, max 10

Tue Dec 20 16:15:12 2022 : L2TP error sending Hello (Destination address required)

Tue Dec 20 16:15:12 2022 : Failed to send L2TP hello trigger. tried 0, max 10

Tue Dec 20 16:15:13 2022 : L2TP error sending Hello (Destination address required)

Tue Dec 20 16:15:13 2022 : Failed to send L2TP hello trigger. tried 0, max 10

Tue Dec 20 16:15:14 2022 : L2TP error sending Hello (Destination address required)

Tue Dec 20 16:15:14 2022 : Failed to send L2TP hello trigger. tried 0, max 10

Tue Dec 20 16:15:15 2022 : IPSec connection failed

Exactly the same problem after update to 11.7.2

Wed Dec 21 16:11:04 2022 : l2tp_get_router_address
Wed Dec 21 16:11:04 2022 : l2tp_get_router_address x.x.x.x from dict 1
Wed Dec 21 16:11:04 2022 : L2TP connecting to server '######' (x.x.x.x)...
Wed Dec 21 16:11:04 2022 : L2TP can't set L2TP server address: Cannot allocate memory
Wed Dec 21 16:11:04 2022 : IPSec connection started
Wed Dec 21 16:11:04 2022 : L2TP error sending Hello (Destination address required)
Wed Dec 21 16:11:04 2022 : Failed to send L2TP hello trigger. tried 0, max 10
Wed Dec 21 16:11:05 2022 : L2TP error sending Hello (Destination address required)
Wed Dec 21 16:11:05 2022 : Failed to send L2TP hello trigger. tried 0, max 10
Wed Dec 21 16:11:06 2022 : L2TP error sending Hello (Destination address required)
Wed Dec 21 16:11:06 2022 : Failed to send L2TP hello trigger. tried 0, max 10
Wed Dec 21 16:11:07 2022 : L2TP error sending Hello (Destination address required)
Wed Dec 21 16:11:07 2022 : Failed to send L2TP hello trigger. tried 0, max 10
Wed Dec 21 16:11:08 2022 : L2TP error sending Hello (Destination address required)
Wed Dec 21 16:11:08 2022 : Failed to send L2TP hello trigger. tried 0, max 10
Wed Dec 21 16:11:09 2022 : IPSec connection failed

Same problem here with Macbook pro 2016, just updated to 11.7.2 and now I am not able to connect with my office server

Any clue how to fix it?

Any other VPN Client that could be use to replace built-in VPN Client¿?

I've been in touch with Apple support twice now on this. Instead of addressing the bug head-on and releasing 11.7.3, they are saying to "upgrade" to OS Monterey. If this is not possible, because, for instance, your nearly $4,000.00 7 yo iMac is "obsolete" you're basically out of luck. Wipe your drive, upgrade to OS Catalina (not!), restore from backup and you're done like dinner.

There is no way to restore to 11.7 because they don't take OS snapshots like Windows does and if you upgrade past Catalina you're going to get 11.7.2 and experience the issue again; they will deliver a faulty OS.

More than not a great solution, it's unacceptable for Apple to introduce a bug in their OS update and then refuse the acceptable response of fixing the bug! Not everyone wants or even is able, to change the operating system. In some cases it would be an IT nightmare.

I'm re-evaluating my relationship with this company that I've spent tens of thousands of dollars with, over the years. Steve! come back, we need you!

In my research, I've learned that L2TP over IPSec is insecure and subject to attack, but it's still working on OS Monterey. If you can't upgrade computer, see if your office router supports OpenVPN server. This protocol is supported natively on a lot of the modern routers, and you don't have to invest much to get one.

The client software is free download from OpenVPN organization.

I've just installed this and it's working fine. Finally. I had to work with it a bit to see what settings work on the router (VPN server). For the record, on this TP-Link router, the default server config was "home and internet networks" and that didn't work well for me. I changed it to "home network only"

The answer that "L2TP is insecure" is not an acceptable solution for the patch that broke the L2TP client. If L2TP is to be deprecated, then it needs to be removed from future versions of the OS, not the N-2 version. This is a bug that was missed during regression testing and needs to be fixed ASAP, or Apple risks losing customers who use Mac for business.

No organization worth anything is putting in emergency changes to replace their VPN solution a week before the holidays. That's a beyond ridiculous burden. Fix the bug.

i agree. Fix the bug. Apple didn’t tell me it was deprecated. Another source told me about the insecurity. Apple still supports this in Monterey.

Apple did tell me that their only offer to address this was upgrade to Monterey and that’s not a good solution for thousand of people I’m sure

Well I can imagine that thousands of stations have been impacted because L2Tp is quite extended, I can not understand why they are not aware of the problem or why don't want to fix it... to force us to move to Monterrey?

Do not accept the answer to upgrade to Monterey. Ask support to escalate the problem. I have AppleCare and will be opening a problem ticket. The more folks that do, the more it will become a priority. Make noise.

I was taking to a second level support person. I told them the issue is with the operating system and that upgrading was actually impossible due to them locking out my very expensive fully functional al 7 year old machine and that the acceptable answer was “we will fix this and issue a patch” and she told me “upgrade to Monterey is Apples final answer.” I said this is a great argument for switching to Windows.

I am not going to move to Monterrey, Big Sur is quite stable now and the number of issues reported in Monterrey is a risk: moving to tackle the problem of L2TP to face other more serious problems and being fully stuck

i am going to search a VPN external option, expressvpn or other