Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for OpenVPN on pfSense
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA /MFA) for OpenVPN on pfSense
miniOrange makes it easy to add an extra layer of security to your OpenVPN for pfSense VPN connection with just a few simple steps. With remote work becoming more prevalent, ensuring a secure remote access environment is critical.
OpenVPN for pfSense is a highly versatile VPN endpoint agent that provides multiple security services to protect your enterprise. With miniOrange, you can quickly enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for your OpenVPN connected to pfSense to increase security levels. With 2FA, users enter their username and password as usual and then must enter a code generated by apps such as Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, OTP over SMS/Email, or Push Notification. This added security measure makes it much harder for unauthorized users to gain access to your VPN connection.
In summary, implementing 2FA with miniOrange and OpenVPN for pfSense is an easy and effective way to ensure your remote access environment is secure. You can follow the below guide to complete the setup.
miniOrange Two Factor Authentication for OpenVPN on pfSense Login
miniOrange accomplishes this by acting as a RADIUS server that accepts the username/password of the user entered as a RADIUS request and validates the user against the user store as Active Directory (AD). After the first level of authentication, miniOrange prompts the user with 2-factor authentication and either grants/revokes access based on the input by the user.
Primary authentication initiates with the user submitting his Username and Password for OpenVPN on pfSense.
User request acts as an authentication request to RADIUS Server(miniOrange).
miniOrange RADIUS server passes user credentials to validate against the credentials stored in AD (Active Directory) / Database.
Once the user's first level of authentication gets validated AD sends the confirmation to RADIUS Server.
Now miniOrange RADIUS Server asks for a 2-factor authentication challenge to the user.
Here user submits the response/code which he receives on his hardware/phone.
User response is checked at miniOrange RADIUS Server side.
On successful 2nd factor authentication the user is granted access to login.
Connect with any External Directories
miniOrange provides user authentication from various external directories such as miniOrange Directory, Microsoft AD, Microsoft Entra ID/LDAP, AWS Cognito and many more.
miniOrange offers free POC and help through a consultation call with our System Engineers to Setup Multi-Factor Authentication for OpenVPN on pfSense in your environment with 30-day trial.
For this, you need to just send us an email at idpsupport@xecurify.com to get free POC and we'll help you setting up our solution in no time.
Get Free POC
Enable Multi Factor Authentication MFA/2FA for OpenVPN on pfSense
Click on Customization in the left menu of the dashboard.
In Basic Settings, set the Organization Name as the custom_domain name.
Click Save. Once that is set, the branded login URL would be of the format https://<custom_domain>.xecurify.com/moas/login
Go to Apps Click on Add Application button.
In Choose Application, select RADIUS (VPN) from the application type dropdown.
Click on OpenVPN on pfSense application tab. If you don't find your application click on Radius Client application tab.
Click on "Click here" to get the Radius server IPs.
Copy and save the Radius server IP which will be required to configure your Radius client.
Configure the below details to add Radius Client.
Client Name:
Any name for your reference.
Client IP:
IP address of VPN server which will send Radius authentication request.
Shared Secret:
Security key. For Eg. "sharedsecret" (Keep this with you, you will need to configure same on VPN Server).
Click Next.
Under the Attribute Mappings tab, enable the toggle if you want to Send Custom Attributes in response.
To send groups in response, you can refer the below table for Vendor group attributes id.
Vendor Name
Vendor Attribute
Value Type
Attribute
Cisco ASA
ASA-Group_policy
User
Groups
Fortinet
Fortinet-Group-Name
User
Groups
Palo Alto
PaloAlto-user-Group
User
Groups
SonicWall
Sonicwall-user-group
User
Groups
Citrix
Citrix-user-groups
User
Groups
Default(Can be used if your vendor is not in the list)
Filter-Id
User
Groups
Value Type and Attribute can be changed based on the requirement.
Click on Next to proceed.
Configure the following Policy details for the Radius Client.
Group Name:
Group for which the policy will apply.
Policy Name:
Any Identifier that specifies policy name.
Login Method
Login Method for the users associated with this policy.
Enable 2-Factor Authentication
Enables Second Factor during Login for users associated with this policy.
Enable Adaptive Authentication
Enables Adaptive Authentication for Login of users associated with this policy.
After configuring the given above details, Click on Save button.
Note: You can follow this guide, if you want to configure Radius MFA using MSCHAPv2 protocol.
NOTE: OpenVPN on pfSense client doesn't support challenge i.e. it will not prompt you to enter any sort of OTP Code. In this scenario, the MFA can be supported using a limited number of authentication methods listed below:
Google Authenticator
Microsoft Authenticator
Authy Authenticator
Soft Token via miniOrange Authenticator
Push Notifications
SMS/Email Links
To support token-based methods out of these, you have to enable the below setting.
Navigate to Advanced settings and enable The option as shown below (since OpenVPN on pfSense doesn't support challenge).
Only For On-Premise Version
Open Firewall Ports.
In order to receive the RADIUS request, it is necessary to open UDP traffic on ports 1812 and 1813 for the machine where On-Premise IdP is deployed.
If the hosting machine is a Windows Machine then you can follow this document.
If the hosting machine is a Linux Machine then you can follow this document.
NOTE: If your machine is hosted on AWS, then enable the ports from the AWS panel.
2. Configure RADIUS in OpenVPN on pfSense
Note: pfsense is a firewall which usually works with other VPN clients. You'll need a VPN client to setup 2fa with Netgate pfsense. You can connect OpenVPN and IPsec VPN among others.
On the OpenVPN pfsense Server login to the web interface.
Go to the System → User Manager.
Switch to the Authentication Servers tab. Click Add.
Fill in the form. Refer to the following image and table for more information about the settings. Click Save to add the Authentication Server.
Descriptive name
Specify any name you like.
Type
Always select RADIUS.
Protocol
Select PAP
Hostname or IP address
Enter the hostname or IP address of Radius server of miniOrange that you got from Step 1.
Shared Secret
Shared Secret used while app creation in miniOrange.
Services offered
Change to Authentication.
Authentication port
1812
Accounting port
N/A. Leave the default value.
Authentication Timeout
Change to 60
RADIUS NAS IP Attribute
Enter the IP to use for the “NAS-IP-Address” attribute during RADIUS Access-Requests.
Click Save.
Go to VPN → OpenVPN. Find your interface on the OpenVPN Server list. Click the pen icon on the right.
Switch to the Servers tab. Make sure Server mode is set to Remote Access (User Auth).
Make sure Backend for authentication is set to the Authentication Server you created in step4.
Other settings depend on your personal needs. Click Save to save the changes.
3. Configure Your User Directory
miniOrange provides user authentication from various external sources, which can be Directories (like ADFS, Microsoft Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, OpenLDAP, Google, AWS Cognito etc), Identity Providers (like Okta, Shibboleth, Ping, OneLogin, KeyCloak), Databases (like MySQL, Maria DB, PostgreSQL) and many more. You can configure your existing directory/user store or add users in miniOrange.
Note: You can follow this guide, if you want to configure Radius MFA with your users stored in Microsoft Entra ID using OAuth Password Grant.
Setup AD/LDAP as User Directory
Setup miniOrange as User Directory
Configure your existing directories such as Microsoft Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, OpenLDAP, etc.
Click on External Directories >> Add Directory in the left menu of the dashboard.
Select Directory type as AD/LDAP.
STORE LDAP CONFIGURATION IN MINIORANGE: Choose this option if you want to keep your configuration in miniOrange. If active directory is behind a firewall, you will need to open the firewall to allow incoming requests to your AD.
STORE LDAP CONFIGURATION ON PREMISE: Choose this option if you want to keep your configuration in your premise and only allow access to AD inside premises. You will have to download and install miniOrange gateway in your premise.
Enter LDAP Display Name and LDAP Identifier name.
Select Directory Type as Active Directory.
Enter the LDAP Server URL or IP Address against LDAP Server URL field.
Click on Test Connection button to verify if you have made a successful connection with your LDAP server.
In Active Directory, go to the properties of user containers/OU's and search for Distinguished Name attribute.
Enter the valid Bind account Password.
Click on Test Bind Account Credentials button to verify your LDAP Bind credentials for LDAP connection.
Search Base is the location in the directory where the search for a user begins. You will get this from the same place you got your Distinguished name.
Select a suitable Search filter from the drop-down menu. If you use User in Single Group Filter or User in Multiple Group Filter, replace the <group-dn> in the search filter with the distinguished name of the group in which your users are present. To use custom Search Filter select "Write your Custom Filter" option and customize it accordingly.
You can also configure following options while setting up AD. Enable Activate LDAP in order to authenticate users from AD/LDAP. Click on the Save button to add user store.
Here's the list of the attributes and what it does when we enable it. You can enable/disable accordingly.
Attribute
Description
Activate LDAP
All user authentications will be done with LDAP credentials if you Activate it
Sync users in miniOrange
Users will be created in miniOrange after authentication with LDAP
Fallback Authentication
If LDAP credentials fail then user will be authenticated through miniOrange
Allow users to change password
This allows your users to change their password. It updates the new credentials in your LDAP server
Enable administrator login
On enabling this, your miniOrange Administrator login authenticates using your LDAP server
Show IdP to users
If you enable this option, this IdP will be visible to users
Send Configured Attributes
If you enable this option, then only the attributes configured below will be sent in attributes at the time of login
Click on Save. After this, it will show you the list of User stores. Click on Test Connection to check whether you have enter valid details. For that, it will ask for username and password.
On Successful connection with LDAP Server, a success message is shown.
Click on Test Attribute Mapping.
Enter a valid Username. Then, click on Test. Mapped Attributes corresponding to the user are fetched.
After successful Attribute Mapping Configuration, go back to the ldap configuration and enable Activate LDAP in order to authenticate users from AD/LDAP.
Note: Below steps are used to enable one time or manual sync. To enable sync on scheduled basis, you should use LDAP gateway module. Read more and download the LDAP gateway module.
Go to Settings >> Product Settings in the Customer Admin Account.
Enable the "Enable User Auto Registration" option and click Save.
(Optional) To send a welcome email to all the end users that will be imported, enable the "Enable sending Welcome Emails after user registration" option and click Save.
From the Left-Side menu of the dashboard select Provisioning.
In Setup Provisioning tab select Active Directory in the Select Application drop-down.
Toggle the Import Users tab, click on Save button.
On the same section, switch to Import Users section.
Select Active Directory from the dropdown and click on the Import Users tab, to import all the users from Active Directory to miniOrange.
You can view all the Users you have imports by selecting Users >> User List from Left Panel.
All the imported users will be auto registered.
These groups will be helpful in adding multiple 2FA policies on the applications.
Here, fill the user details without the password and then click on the Create User button.
After successful user creation a notification message "An end user is added successfully" will be displayed at the top of the dashboard.
Click on Onboarding Status tab. Check the email, with the registered e-mail id and select action Send Activation Mail with Password Reset Link from Select Action dropdown list and then click on Apply button.
Now, Open your email id. Open the mail you get from miniOrange and then click on the link to set your account password.
On the next screen, enter the password and confirm password and then click on the Single Sign-On (SSO) reset password button.
Now, you can log in into miniOrange account by entering your credentials.
2. Bulk Upload Users in miniOrange via Uploading CSV File.
Navigate to Users >> User List. Click on Add User button.
In Bulk User Registration Download sample csv format from our console and edit this csv file according to the instructions.
To bulk upload users, choose the file make sure it is in comma separated .csv file format then click on Upload.
After uploading the csv file successfully, you will see a success message with a link.
Click on that link you will see list of users to send activation mail. Select users to send activation mail and click on Send Activation Mail. An activation mail will be sent to the selected users.
This step involves Importing the user group from the Active Directory and Provisioning them.
Go to Provisioning. Switch to Setup Provisioning tab and select Active Directory from Dropdown menu.
Select Group Provisioning/Deprovisioning tab, and toggle on Import Group option.
Enter the Base DN for group sync and click Save.
If you want to dynamically allocate users to the groups present in the miniOrange, then enable "Assign Users to groups"
Now switch to Import Groups option and select Active Directory from which you want to import your users.
Finally, click on Import button. Your group will be imported.
(The Active Directory Group Provisioning (Sync) setup is done. Now, whenever a user is created or modified in LDAP server and if the Assign Users to groups is enabled, then user group attribute from the LDAP server will be automatically synced and the user group will be assigned or changed accordingly in miniOrange.)
Select Groups >> Manage Groups from left panel.
Click on the Create Group button on the top.
Enter an appropriate Group Name and click on Create Group.
In this guide we have created a Group by name VPN_Group.
Assign various members to the group using the Assign User option associated with the group in the groups list.
Select the Users that are required to be assigned to this group. Then Select Assign to Group in Select Action Dropdown and click on Apply button.
These groups will be helpful in adding multiple 2FA policies on the applications.
4. Setup MFA for OpenVPN on pfSense
Note: You can follow this guide, if you want to customize and enroll MFA for end users.
Here, we will configure a policy for the User Group that we created in this step and associate it with the OpenVPN on pfSense VPN Application.
Click on Policies tab >> App Login Policy.
Click on Add Policy tab.
In Application section, select the RADIUS App that we configured earlier in Step 1.
Select the required User Group in Group Name and enter the Policy name.
In this guide, we will configure a Password Only policy for "VPN_Group", so that only the VPN_Group members can access VPN Services without a Second Factor.
Once done with the policy settings, click on Save to Add Policy.
5. Test OpenVPN on pfSense MFA
Connect to OpenVPN on pfSense.
Enter Username and Password.
If you use Authenticator apps for the authentication, enter the 6 digit token along with password into the password prompt.
If you use Push Notifications or SMS/Email for the authentication, you need to "Allow" or "Deny" to access the application.
After successful validation, you should be connected to OpenVPN on pfSense.
Troubleshooting
How can I check RADIUS User audit logs in miniOrange admin dashboard?
Click on Reports >> Radius User Authentication Report.
Enter Enduser Identifier and Date range.
Click on Search.
Multiple Requests received by user for one authentication.
Add the following lines to the user configuration files on the client-side to control connection retries and timeouts: reneg-sec 0
connect-retry 0
connect-retry-max 1
connect-timeout 55
resolv-retry 0
Adjust Timeout Settings to 60 Seconds as follows:
a. Firewall Settings:
Navigate to Firewall > Rules, then edit the OpenVPN rule.
Set the Timeout value to 60 seconds.
b. OpenVPN Server Settings:
Go to VPN > OpenVPN > Servers, and edit the OpenVPN server instance.
Set the Timeout value to 60 seconds.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)?
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is an authentication method that requires the user to authenticate themselves for two or more factors, in order to gain access to company resources, applications, or a VPN (OpenVPN on pfSense in this case). Enabling Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) means that users need to provide additional verification factors apart from their username and passwords thus increasing the security of the organization's resources. Checkout more about Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) here.
Three common authentication methods for MFA security are:
Knowledge: Something that the user knows.
Possession: Something that the user possesses or has.
Inherence: Usually referred to a biometric factor.
Types of 2FA Authentication with RADIUS:
Depending on the VPN client, 2-factor authentication can take two forms..
VPN Clients that support RADIUS Challenge.
VPN Clients that do not support RADIUS Challenge.
What are different 2FA/MFA methods for OpenVPN on pfSense supported by miniOrange?
miniOrange supports multiple 2FA/MFA authentication methods for OpenVPN on pfSense secure access such as, Push Notification, Soft Token, Microsoft / Google Authenticator etc.
