VPN asks to enter password to connect on macOS

[srirambv]

Description

VPN asks to enter password to connect on macOS

Steps to reproduce

1. Open VPN panel to connect, shows Unable to load credentials
2. Set automatically connect to VPN setting enabled
3. Prompt shows up to enter password
4. Doesn't connect to VPN
5. Can't connect to VPN until credentials load up

Actual result

Expected result

Should be able to connect to VPN without issues

Reproduces how often

Easily reproduced

Brave version (brave://version info)

Brave	1.72.26 Chromium: 129.0.6668.59 (Official Build) nightly (arm64)
Revision	4580158f4966388aa15f701b5fa01cbe22846cc5
OS	macOS Version 15.0 (Build 24A335)

Channel information

• [X] release (stable)
• [X] beta
• [X] nightly

Reproducibility

• [ ] with Brave Shields disabled
• [ ] with Brave Rewards disabled
• [ ] in the latest version of Chrome

Miscellaneous information

cc: @simonhong

[bsclifton]

@srirambv you can connect in browser, but just not from the OS, right?

Seems to affect macOS Sonoma and higher (14.x)

[srirambv]

@bsclifton No, it doesn't connect either from OS network connection or from the VPN panel

[bsclifton]

It seems like disabling the auto-reconnect helps to fix the issue. Do you mind sharing your notes @srirambv?

[srirambv]

Observations of testing this

• Disabled Auto-reconnect from system settings/browser vpn panel and putting the system to sleep/wake up doesn't show the password prompt
• Disabled auto-reconnect from system settings/browser vpn panel and disconnecting network and reconnecting manually still doesn't show the password prompt
• As soon as the auto-reconnect is enabled and system goes to sleep and wakes up the password prompt is shown
• Disabling auto-reconnect from browser vpn panel doesn't actually stops it from prompting for password. The only way to stop is to disable auto-reconnect via system settings
• When disabling from system settings, it does asks for keychain password, which I generally close without providing it and it still allows to disable the auto-reconnect setting

One thing I noticed is when I tried to connect to a different VPN while Brave VPN was trying to reconnect, it did start the password prompt and had to disable it from system settings

[iambrianfung]

i’m impacted by this same issue. happy to help diagnose/troubleshoot

[simonhong]

Similar issue from web searching. https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonVPN/comments/wei01h/macos_asking_for_my_vpn_password_proton_password/

[simonhong]

i’m impacted by this same issue. happy to help diagnose/troubleshoot

Do you use multiple vpn client? and did you try to connect another vpn client while brave vpn is trying to connect in background(because of ondemand)?

[simonhong]

One thing I noticed is when I tried to connect to a different VPN while Brave VPN was trying to reconnect, it did start the password prompt and had to disable it from system settings

@srirambv Curious this doesn't happen if you don't use another VPN client?

[iambrianfung]

@simonhong only the corporate wireguard config.

[simonhong]

@simonhong only the corporate wireguard config.

Thanks, can you remember corporate wireguard was connected also when that happened?

[iambrianfung]

yes, i believe it was successfully connected.

i disabled auto-reconnect and haven't had the issue. i can turn it back on if it's helpful for you but it's extremely disruptive to my ability to use my machine since it affects internet connection including slack, etc.