Kernel panic after Cisco AnyConnect establishes connection

I'm working with Cisco on this exact problem. Kernel panic on my MBA running Lion 10.7.3 but not on my wife's MB with same OS. Both are using Cisco AnyConnect 3.0.5075

Anybody have any success in solving this issue? I'll post again if I figure it out.

Hey there

I have actually succeded in finding a solution for this issue, since it was giving me so much trouble in doing my work, I tried all sorts of things to be able to fix this.

And I found one workaround that fixes the problem, at least for a while. It's a bit of a proces, but if you do this, everything works.

When you get the Kernel Panic.. Do the following :

1. reboot MacOSX

2. Close all open programs ( you have to do this, else it wont work )

3. Shutdown the macbook

4. Reset the SMC. This is done by holding down : SHIFT+CTRL+ALT+ power button for at least 5 seconds. The power cord needs to be in.

5. Boot the macbook.

6. Start AnyConnect and put on the joyful smile of relief when it goes past the magic 30 seconds, and no KERNEL panic has arrived.

This works perfectly for me, and i can use the anyconnect for weeks without problems, but now and then it does a kernel panic again, but then i just do what is described over here, and everything is fine.

I still hope that Cisco would prioritize to test their software on MacOSX, because it has always been pretty bad, when compared to their windows editions.

Reseting the SCM does not solve the issue for me. Nor does reseting the PRAM, upgrading to the 3.0.5080 client, or removing VirtualBox. AnyConnect causes kernel panics at the 30 second point on both a mid-2010 iMac and a mid-2009 MBP, both of which are running 10.7.3.

Here, more or less in order, are all the steps I've tried to resolve this issue:

* Removing the previous Cisco VPNClient by running the /usr/local/bin/vpn_uninstall script

* Removing, and re-installing the AnyConnect client

* Creating a new user account and installing the AnyConnect client there

* Reseting the PRAM

* Disabling IPv6

* Reinstalling Lion

* Installing the latest AnyConnect Client (3.0.5080)

* Removed VirtualBox

* Reseting the SCM

After removing VirtualBox the only kexts I have are com.AmbrosiaSW.AudioSupport (3.2) and com.cisco.kext.acsock (1.1.0).

I'm at my wit's end. The VPN is now required where I work and I am unable to connect at all.

In the end I backup my SSD, formatted it, and reinstalled a fresh copy of Lion. Once the install completed I installed AnyConnect 3.0.5080 and it works. No panic -- my connection appears stable. Tomorrow I'll start re-adding the software I need and use, keep a close eye on the connection. If I manage to identify a cause (either a setting change or software install) I'll report back here.

I'm really not wanting to wipe my computer and my co-worker isn't going to wipe his either. Still working with the Cisco rep. He's doing some research. I'll of course post if he comes up with anything - if you could past your results after adding software back that might be helpful. I'll have the Cisco rep look at this thread..

I've rebuilt the iMac and the connection is now stable. The fact that no software I added caused the VPN to panic tells me it wasn't related to a piece of software. I basically have the same setup as before. I am now thinking that the problem stems from residue left by adding and removing software, perhaps something that works down at a lower level. By the end of the day I had the same list of kexts as when the machine was panicking.

On the bright side I now have a freshly setup machine with a working VPN connection. On the dark side I now have to go through the same exercise with my MacBook Pro as it too panics after 30 seconds of connectivity.

Here for posterity sake are the notes I took while rebuilding the machine.

* Formatted drive and installed Lion via App Store installer

* Created email account

* Downloaded and installed Cisco AnyConnect 3.0.5080 client

* Connection to OMEDBVPN is working

* Downloaded and installed Google Chrome - set as default browser

* Using App Store, installed

* Alfred

* Growl

Stopped and restarted VPN connection successfully.

* Changed default shell to zsh via Advanced Options in Users & Groups panel of System Preferences

* Installed Homebrew for package management

* Installed Xcode via App Store

Stopped and restarted VPN connection successfully.

* Installed Xcode Command Line tools -- need GCC for brew installs to work

* brew install git

* Installed iTerm 2 1.0.0.20120203

* Installed IntelliJ IDEA 10.5.4 Ultimate Edition - applied license key

* This required the installation of a Java Runtime - i.e., Apple Software update

Stopped and restarted VPN connection successfully.

* Installed DbVisualizer 8.0.8 and applied license

* Installed Things and applied license

* Installed Dropbox and started sync operation

* Installed Evernote via App Store

* Installed iPulse and applied license

* Installed Adium, downloaded preferred contact list and message themes

Stopped and restarted VPN connection successfully.

* Installed 1Password -- need to wait for Dropbox sync to complete before using --Done

* Restore backed up directories

* Documents

* Projects

* Installed OmniGraffle Professional 5, applied license

* Installed TextMate 2 Alpha, applied personal license

Stopped and restarted VPN connection successfully.

* Moved more backed up files and directories from HD to SSD

* bin

* Manuals

* Sites

* src

* virtualmachines

* Adding XMarks plugin to Safari and Google Chrome

* Started iTunes, triggering software update process

* Updating:

* iTunes

* iMac Wifi Update

* AirPort Utility

Stopped and restarted VPN connection successfully.

* Installed VirtualBox

Stopped and restarted VPN connection successfully.

* Added Windows 7 VM

* Applied License key

* Installed an incredible number of updates

* Added anti-virus protection

* Installed Google Chrome

*

* Installing RVM

* Added Ruby 1.9.2-p290

* Needed to use Clang option as GCC from Xcode 4.3 is different than RVM expected

* Cloning dotfile repository from Github

* Sym linking to vimrc, vim, and zshrc

* Installed solarized color scheme for iTerm

* Installed solarized color scheme for TextMate

* Installed macvim via brew

* Installed Skitch via App Store

* Installed GitHub for Mac 1.2 (Snow Octocat)

Stopped and restarted VPN connection successfully.

* Installed Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac (32-bit edition)

* Moved dock to start (upper) corner on left side of screen

defaults write com.apple.dock.pinning -string [start | middle | end]

killall Dock

I have much of the same setup you have listed here. I too am wondering about this:

I am now thinking that the problem stems from residue left by adding and removing software, perhaps something that works down at a lower level.

Would be interested to hear back from you in a few weeks if you still aren't having a problem.

have you had any problems with the AnyConnect client since you wiped and reinstalled?

No problems at all since wiping and reinstalling. It didn't help me understand what was borked, but it did fix the problem.

Did you have add a route ? I have the kernel panic after +- 30 secondes because I have a script at startup who add a route to route the port 6666 to 5900.

sudo ipfw add 00100 fwd 127.0.0.1,5900 tcp from any to me dst-port 6666

Since I remove these script, I didn't have a kernel panic with anyconnect; see my question at :https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3863784

This issue with 37signal's Pow dev server was the culprit for my setup: https://github.com/37signals/pow/issues/34

I removed Pow (and the resolver it installs at /etc/resolver/dev) and the kernel panic has stopped on two identical Macbook Pros. Although I like Pow, I'd much rather have a machine with VPN and no panic.

The Pow guys closed that issue a year ago, so if you're interested in them fixing it head on over and add some comments, or open a new issue. Hope that helps someone...

Only one of the machines that was kernel panicking on my end had POW installed. So while it may be contributing the problem, it isn't the sole cause.

I will confirm @markTheCellist. Pow is confirmed as a culprit in Cisco AnyConnect KernelPanic on SnowLeopard.

Since POW does magic against resolv.conf and /etc/resolvers, maybe this is a similar issue in other situations involving Cisco AnyConnect KernelPanics.

Thanks for the tip!! I have setup a route using ipfw, after remove this route, the panic is gone!

I know this is an older post but we just ran into the same problem.

Fixed it with upgrading to Cisco AnyConnect 3.1.02040. Kernel panics have subsided for the moment.