Two factor authentication for WatchGuard XTM and Firebox SSL VPN

 
Last Updated: December 20, 2024

Overview of MFA for WatchGuard XTM and Firebox VPN

 
The LoginTC RADIUS Connector is a complete two-factor authentication virtual machine packaged to run within your corporate network.

The LoginTC RADIUS Connector enables the WatchGuard XTM and Firebox VPN (e.g. Mobile VPN with SSL or IPSec or IKEv2 or L2TP) to use LoginTCfor the most secure two-factor authentication.
 
Explore how LoginTC integrates with the WatchGuard XTM and Firebox VPN below.
 

User Experience

After entering the username and password into the Mobile VPN client, the user is presented with an Authentication Message. The user may enter ‘1’ to receive a push notification to their device to approve or enter a valid One-Time Password (OTP). This flow works the same for clientless access.

• SSL VPN Client
• Clientless
• Hardware OTP
• SMS OTP

Video Instructions Architecture

Authentication Flow

1. A user attempts access with their existing WatchGuard client with username / password
2. A RADIUS authentication request is sent to the LoginTC RADIUS Connector
3. The username / password is verified against an existing first factor directory (LDAP, Active Directory or RADIUS)
4. An authentication request is made to LoginTC Cloud Services
5. Secure push notification request sent to the user’s mobile or desktop device
6. User response (approval or denial of request) sent to LoginTC Cloud Services
7. The LoginTC RADIUS Connector polls until the user responds or a timeout is reached
8. RADIUS Access-Accept sent back to WatchGuard
9. User is granted access to WatchGuard

Compatibility

WatchGuard appliance compatibility:

• WatchGuard Firebox T10 Series
• WatchGuard XTM 2 Series
• WatchGuard XTM 3 Series
• WatchGuard XTM 5 Series
• WatchGuard Unified Threat Management (UTM)
• WatchGuard Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW)
• WatchGuard appliance supporting RADIUS authentication

Prerequisites

Before proceeding, please ensure you have the following:

• LoginTC Admin Panel account
• Computer virtualization software such as VMware ESXi, VirtualBox, or Hyper-V
• Virtual Machine requirements:
  • 1 vCPU
  • 2 GiB RAM
  • 8 GB disk space

Create Application

Start by creating a LoginTC Application for your deployment. An Application represents a service (e.g. An application is a service (e.g., VPN or web application) that you want to protect. e) that you want to protect with LoginTC.

Create a LoginTC Application in LoginTC Admin Panel, follow Create Application Steps.

If you have already created a LoginTC Application for your deployment, then you may skip this section and proceed to Installation.

Installation

1. Download the latest LoginTC RADIUS Connector:
   • OVF for ESXi, VirtualBox
   • VHD for Hyper-V
2. Import the virtual appliance your computer virtualization software
   • Instructions for Hyper-V
3. Ensure that LoginTC RADIUS CONNECTOR has a virtual network card
4. Start the virtual appliance
5. You will be with a console prompt:
6. Login using the username logintc-user and default password logintcradius:
7. Once logged in type setup:
8. Follow the on-screen prompt to setup a new password for logintc-user:
9. By default the appliance network is not configured. Manually configure the network by typing 1 and hit enter:
10. Follow the on-screen prompts to setup the network. When done, type 1 and enter to confirm the settings:
11. You will be presented with the network configuration which includes the URL to connect to the appliance from a web browser (example https://172.20.221.105:8443):
12. Navigate to the URL shown in the console dashboard (example: https://172.20.221.105:8443):
13. Login using the username logintc-user and the password that was set in the initial setup:
14. Link to your existing LoginTC organization. The 64-character Organization API Key is found on the LoginTC Admin Panel under Settings >page API >page Click to view, also see Organization API Key:
15. Confirm the LoginTC organization name and click Continue to LoginTC RADIUS Connector:
16. If you have an existing LoginTC RADIUS Connector your wish to import configurations then click Yes, import configurations from an existing LoginTC RADIUS Connector, otherwise click No, continue to the adminsitration panel:

    NOTE
    These instructions assume a new environment. For a complete 2.X / 3.X to 4.X upgrade guide: LoginTC RADIUS Connector Upgrade Guide

17. Now you are ready to use the LoginTC RADIUS Connector:

The LoginTC RADIUS Connector runs a firewall with the following open ports:

Port	Protocol	Purpose
1812	UDP	RADIUS authentication
443	TCP	API traffic
8443	TCP	Web interface

Configuration for WatchGuard VPN MFA

Endpoints describe how the appliance will authenticate your RADIUS-speaking device with an optional first factor and LoginTC as a second factor. Each endpoint has 4 Sections:

1. LoginTC Settings

This section describes how the appliance itself authenticates against LoginTC Admin Panel with your LoginTC Application. Only users that are part of your organization and added to the domain configured will be able to authenticate.

2. User Directory

This section describes how the appliance will conduct an optional first factor. Either against an existing LDAP, Active Directory or RADIUS server. If no first factor is selected, then only LoginTC will be used for authentication.

3. Challenge Strategy / Passthrough

This section describes whether the appliance will perform a LoginTC challenge for an authenticating user. The default is to challenge all users. However with either a static list or Active Directory / LDAP Group you can control whom gets challenged to facilitate seamless testing and rollout.

4. Client Settings

This section describes which RADIUS-speaking device will be connecting to the appliance and whether to encrypt API Key, password and secret parameters.

The web interface makes setting up an endpoint simple and straightforward. Each section has a Test feature, which validates each input value and reports all potential errors. Section specific validation simplifies troubleshooting and gets your infrastructure protected correctly faster.

First Endpoint

Close the console and navigate to your appliance web interface URL. Use username logintc-user and the password you set upon initial launch of the appliance. You will now configure the LoginTC RADIUS Connector.

Create a new endpoint file by clicking + Create your first endpoint:

LoginTC Settings

A list of available Applications will be displayed from your LoginTC organization. Select which LoginTC Application to use:

Configure the application:

Configuration values:

Property	Explanation
Application ID	The 40-character Application ID, retrieve Application ID
Application API Key	The 64-character Application API Key, retrieve Application API Key
Request Timeout	Number of seconds that the RADIUS connector will wait for

The Application ID and Application API Key are found on the LoginTC Admin Panel.

Click Test to validate the values and then click Next:

User Directory

Configure the user directory to be used for first authentication factor in conjunction with LoginTC. You may use Active Directory / LDAP or an existing RADIUS server. You may also opt not to use a first factor, in which case LoginTC will be the only authentication factor.

Active Directory / Generic LDAP Option

Select Active Directory if you have an AD Server. For all other LDAP-speaking directory services, such as OpenDJ or OpenLDAP, select Generic LDAP:

Configuration values:

Property	Explanation	Examples
host	Host or IP address of the LDAP server	ldap.example.com or 192.168.1.42
port (optional)	Port if LDAP server uses non-standard (i.e., 389/636)	4000
bind_dn	DN of a user with read access to the directory	cn=admin,dc=example,dc=com
bind_password	The password for the above bind_dn account	password
base_dn	The top-level DN that you wish to query from	dc=example,dc=com
attr_username	The attribute containing the user’s username	sAMAccountName or uid
attr_name	The attribute containing the user’s real name	displayName or cn
attr_email	The attribute containing the user’s email address	mail or email
LDAP Group (optional)	The name of the LDAP group to be sent back to the authenticating server.	SSLVPN-Users
encryption (optional)	Encryption mechanism	ssl or startTLS
cacert (optional)	CA certificate file (PEM format)	/opt/logintc/cacert.pem

Click Test to validate the values and then click Next.

Click Test to validate the values and then click Next.

Existing RADIUS Server Option

If you want to use your existing RADIUS server, select RADIUS:

Configuration values:

Property	Explanation	Examples
IP Address or Host Name	Host or IP address of the RADIUS server	radius.example.com or 192.168.1.43
Authentication Port (optional)	Port if the RADIUS server uses non-standard (i.e., 1812)	1812
Shared Secret	The secret shared between the RADIUS server and the LoginTC RADIUS Connector	testing123

Click Test to validate the values and then click Next.

Challenge Strategy / Passthrough

Configure which users will be challenged with LoginTC. This allows you to control how LoginTC will be phased in for your users. This flexibility allows for seamless testing and roll out.

For example, with smaller or proof of concept deployments select the Static List option. Users on the static list will be challenged with LoginTC, while those not on the list will only be challenged with the configured First Authentication Factor. That means you will be able to test LoginTC without affecting existing users accessing your VPN.

For larger deployments you can elect to use the Active Directory or LDAP Group option. Only users part of a particular LDAP or Active Directory Group will be challenged with LoginTC. As your users are migrating to LoginTC your LDAP and Active Directory group policy will ensure that they will be challenged with LoginTC. Users not part of the group will only be challenged with the configured First Authentication Factor.

Challenge All Users

Select this option if you wish every user to be challenged with LoginTC.

Challenge Users Based on Static Username List

Select this option if you wish to have a static list of users that will be challenged with LoginTC. Good for small number of users.

LoginTC challenge users: a new line separated list of usernames. For example:

            jane.doe
            jane.smith
            john.doe
            john.smith

Challenge Users Based on Group Membership

Select this option if you wish to have only users part of a particular Active Directory or LDAP group to be challenged with LoginTC. Good for medium and large number of users.

Configuration values:

Property	Explanation	Examples
Challenge Groups (Optional)	Comma separated list of groups for which users will be challenged with LoginTC	SSLVPN-Users or two-factor-users
Challenge Groups (Optional)	Comma separated list of groups for which users will always bypass LoginTC	NOMFA-Users

Click Test to validate the values and then click Next.

Client Settings

Configure RADIUS client (e.g. your RADIUS-speaking VPN):

Client configuration values:

Property	Explanation	Examples
name	A unique identifier of your RADIUS client	CorporateVPN
IP Addresss	The IP address of your RADIUS client (e.g. your RADIUS-speaking VPN). Add additional IP Addresses by clicking plus.	192.168.1.44
Shared Secret	The secret shared between the LoginTC RADIUS Connector and its client	bigsecret

Under Authentication Mode select Challenge

The user will be prompted on how they wish to proceed with second-factor authentication (e.g. LoginTC Push, OTP, bypass code). Your RADIUS client must support RADIUS challenges to use this. Challenging the user will often result in a better user experience. See User Experience for more information.

Click Test to validate the values and then click Save.

Testing

When you are ready to test your configuration, create a LoginTC user (if you haven’t already done so). The username should match your existing user. Provision a token by following the steps:

1. In a new tab / window log into the LoginTC Admin Panel
2. Click Domains
3. Click on your domain
4. Click on Members
5. Click Issue Token button beside your user:
6. A 10-character alphanumeric activation code will appear beside the user:
7. Open the LoginTC mobile app.
8. Enter the 10-character alphanumeric activation code:
9. Load the token to complete the process

When you have loaded a token for your new user and domain, navigate to your appliance web interface URL:

Click Test Configuration:

Enter a valid username and password; if there is no password leave it blank. A simulated authentication request will be sent to the mobile or desktop device with the user token loaded. Approve the request to continue:

Congratulations! Your appliance can successfully broker first and second factor authentication. The only remaining step is to configure your RADIUS device!

If there was an error during testing, the following will appear:

In this case, click See logs (or click the Logs section):

WatchGuard VPN MFA Configuration

Once you are satisfied with your setup, configure your WatchGuard to use the LoginTC RADIUS Connector.

For your reference, the appliance web interface Settings page displays the appliance IP address and RADIUS port:

The following are quick steps to get VPN access protected with LoginTC. The instructions can be used for existing setups as well. Although these were performed on WatchGuard Fireware XTM Web UI, the same is true for other devices in the XTM series.

Mobile VPN with SSL

1. Log in to your WatchGuard (Fireware XTM Web UI)
2. Click Authentication:
3. Under Authentication click Servers:
4. Under Authentication Servers click RADIUS:
5. Under Primary Server Settings click Enable RADIUS Server:
6. Complete Primary Server Settings form:
   

   Property	Explanation	Example
   IP Address	Address of LoginTC RADIUS Connector	10.0.10.130
   Port	RADIUS authentication port. Must be 1812.	1812
   Passphrase	The secret shared between the LoginTC RADIUS Connector and its client	bigsecret
   Confirm	The secret shared between the LoginTC RADIUS Connector and its client	bigsecret
   Timeout	Amount of time in seconds to wait. At least 90s.	90
   Retries	Amount of times to retry authentication. Must be 1.	1
   Group Attribute	RADIUS Attribute to be populated with user group info. Must be 11 when using SSL.	11
   Dead Time	Amount of time an unresponsive RADIUS server is marked as inactive	0

7. Click VPN:
8. Under VPN click Mobile VPN with SSL:
9. Click Activate Mobile VPN with SSL:
10. Under Firebox IP Address or Domain Names
    

    Property	Explanation	Example
    Primary	Primary IP address or domain name Firebox users connect to.	10.0.10.130
    Secondary (optional)	Secondary IP address or domain name Firebox users connect to.	10.0.10.131

11. Click Authentication tab:
12. Select RADIUS:
13. Click Save:
14. Click on the Advanced tab:
15. Set Renegotiate Data Channel to a high value such as 30000
16. Click Save

You are now ready to test your configuration.

Testing (WatchGuard Configuration)

To test, navigate to your WatchGuard clientless VPN portal or use a WatchGuard client and attempt access.

To test SSL connections, you can use the following online portal:

                https://[device interface IP address]/sslvpn_logon.shtml

User Management

There are several options for managing your users within LoginTC:

• Individual users can be added manually in LoginTC Admin Panel
• Bulk operations using CSV Import
• Programmatically manage user lifecycle with the REST API
• One-way user synchronization of users to LoginTC Admin is performed using User Sync Tool.

Failover

WatchGuard devices have built-in settings that make it easy to configure a secondary RADIUS server to provide failover.

To set up another RADIUS server, deploy the downloaded LoginTC Connector again (you can deploy it multiple times) and configure it using the same settings as the first one. Click here to review the Connector configuration process. Afterwards, login to your WatchGuard Web UI and make the following changes:

1. Select Authentication from the left-hand navigation bar
2. Click Servers
3. Select RADIUS
4. Check the box to Enable Secondary RADIUS Server
5. Complete the Secondary Server Settings Form using the same settings as the primary one
   

   Property	Explanation	Example
   IP Address	Address of Secondary LoginTC RADIUS Connector	10.0.10.131
   Port	RADIUS authentication port. Must be 1812.	1812
   Passphrase	The secret shared between the LoginTC RADIUS Connector and its client	newsecret
   Confirm	The secret shared between the LoginTC RADIUS Connector and its client	newsecret
   Timeout	Amount of time in seconds to wait. Must be at least 10 seconds longer than the LoginTC Request Timeout.	70
   Retries	Amount of times to retry authentication. Must be 1.	1
   Group Attribute	RADIUS Attribute to be populated with user group info. Must be 11.	11
   Dead Time	Amount of time an unresponsive RADIUS server is marked as inactive before the WatchGuard device attempts to connect to it again	10

6. Click Save

Logging

Logs can be found on the Logs tab:

Troubleshooting

User Receives Multiple LoginTC Requests

See the Knowledge Base articles:

• My WatchGuard SSL VPN users receive multiple LoginTC requests. What can I do?
• My WatchGuard IPSec VPN users receive multiple LoginTC requests. What can I do?

Authentication times out

See the Knowledge Base articles:

• My WatchGuard SSL VPN users receive multiple LoginTC requests. What can I do?
• My WatchGuard IPSec VPN users receive multiple LoginTC requests. What can I do?

No Network Connection

1. First ensure that your LoginTC RADIUS Connector is configured to have a virtual network adapter on eth0
2. Ensure that the virtual network adapter MAC address matches the one in the file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
3. Restart the networking service:

   service network restart

4. If you notice the error that eth0 is not enabled, then check driver messages for more information:

   dmesg | grep eth

5. It’s possible that the virtualization software renamed the network adapter to eth1. If this is the case, rename /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 to ifcfg-eth1.

   mv /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1

   Open the file and update the DEVICE="eth0" line to DEVICE="eth1"

Not Authenticating

If you are unable to authenticate, navigate to your appliance web interface URL and click Status:

Ensure that all the status checks pass. For additional troubleshooting, click Logs:

Unsuccessful authentication may be caused by premature timeouts

If you have activated Mobile VPN with SSL, check that your Group Attributes are configured correctly.

Incorrect Group Settings

If you are using a Mobile VPN protocol such as SSL and are unable to authenticate, check that your Group Attributes are configured correctly. Navigate to your WatchGuard Web UI and click Dashboard in the left-hand navigation bar:

Click on Traffic Monitor:

Select Diagnostic from the table header options:

If you can find the following error message then there is a problem with your Group Attribute settings:

                2015-XX-XX 16:52:41 admd Authentication failed: user username@RADIUS isn't in the authorized SSLVPN group/user list!

Search for the following error message:

                2015-XX-XX 16:59:52 admd RADIUS: no attribute-value pair is retrieved from packet

If found, it means that the RADIUS Connector is not sending back any Group Attribute information. Navigate to your appliance web interface and click Configurations. Select the endpoint you’re having problems with:

Scroll down to the User Directory section and next to Group Attribute click Edit:

1. If “None” is selected, change it to “Specify a group attribute”. Click here to review how to configure the Group Attribute for SSL
2. Otherwise, check that your user is a member of the specified group in the LDAP Directory. If they are not, it will cause RADIUS to return a blank attribute.

If you find a log message similar to this:

                2015-XX-XX 16:52:41 admd RADIUS: finished parsing attribute-value pairs
                2015-XX-XX 16:52:41 admd RADIUS: group 1, type=11 value=L2TP-Users
                2015-XX-XX 16:52:41 admd RADIUS: retrieve VP:Filter-Id(11) int=10

Then the RADIUS server is sending back a Group Attribute, but it may not be the correct one.

Check that the value is the name of the group that has been added to list of groups authorized to authenticate with SSL. Log into the WatchGuard Web UI and select VPN from the left-hand navigation bar. Click on Mobile VPN with SSL :

Click on the Authentication tab:

The bottom table contains the list of groups that are authorized to connect with SSL. If the group returned by the RADIUS server is not part of it, it must be added. Click the Add button:

Type in the group name and select RADIUS as the Authentication Server:

Authentication Timing Out

If authentication is failing, it is possible that the authentication requests are timing out too quickly. By default, LoginTC push requests will timeout after 90 seconds. Another timeout value is defined by the RADIUS server configuration. If it is set too low, it will cause requests to prematurely timeout. To check, login to your WatchGuard Web UI

1. Select Authentication from the left-hand navigation bar, then click Servers
2. Click RADIUS
3. Check the Timeout attribute field. It should be at least 10 seconds longer than the LoginTC Request Timeout set in the LoginTC RAIDUS Connector.

See the Knowledge Base articles for more information:

• My WatchGuard SSL VPN users receive multiple LoginTC requests. What can I do?
• My WatchGuard IPSec VPN users receive multiple LoginTC requests. What can I do?

Upgrading

From 4.X

The latest LoginTC RADIUS Connector upgrade package can be downloaded here: Download RADIUS Connector (Upgrade)

1. Navigate to SETUP > Upgrade:
2. Click Upload and select your LoginTC RADIUS Connector upgrade file:
3. Click Upload and do not navigate away from the page:
4. Once upload is complete upgrade by clicking Install Now:
5. Wait 10-15 minutes for upgrade to complete:

From 3.X

Complete 3.X to 4.X upgrade guide: LoginTC RADIUS Connector Upgrade Guide

Additional Resources

• Recommended settings for an optimal user experience for VPN access
• Challenge Authentication Mode
• My WatchGuard SSL VPN users receive multiple LoginTC requests. What can I do?
• My WatchGuard IPSec VPN users receive multiple LoginTC requests. What can I do?