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

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"

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.

According to my conversation with Apple 2nd level technical support, there is no way to downgrade to 11.7.1

The solution offered is to wipe your drive, install the factory operating system and then update ONLY to Catalina. Proceeding past that will give you the 11.7.2 without the ability to go to 11.7 selectively.

Of course, this was my desired path, to undo that most recent patch, but it's not possible, .you'll be stuck with Catalina (which I personally skipped installing because it wasn't stable in my experience)

"Thank you" to Apple for caring... It is quite obvious that l2tp is broken on purpose, because no such problem was found in other OS versions (Monterey and Ventura). And to switch to Monterey, my MacBook PRO is getting too hot, I doubt that the situation will be better on an officially unsupported Ventura.

I had to switch to Ikev2 and VPN in test mode. As a result, we stayed on Ikev2, because it does not require a third-party client.

What to do to users who do not have admin access to network equipment or other restrictions on the part of information protection, I will not know. 

Once again, "Thank you" to Apple for caring...

11.7.3 fixed the issue

Let's think on a mistake

Jab, many modern and inexpensive routers include OpenVPN servers. this is the solution I went for. I have an Asus and at TP-LInk router set up for this at various offices. Client software is free, too.

Sonicwall routers offer a VPN option, but other than the L2TP over IPSec that we have been using, you need a subscription, and these routers are relatively expensive, but probably much higher in security.

Thanks Peter, at the job we have got a Mikrotik and currently I am configuring SSTP (let's cross the fingers) for testing, also I could configure an OpenVPN too, next step. I am not network expert so everything is step by step...

What I see if that we are in a trouble with this problem, Apple is not going to fix it and we can not upgrade to Monterrey neither to downgrade to Catalina (too much work)....

Hi,

Same issue here :(

Is there any way to restore previous version of BigSur ?

You could try OpenVPN if your office server supports that, but you'd need to match server and client.

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

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.