[Error] Unable to run Cisco VPN inside rootful distrobox

[SuchithSridhar]

Describe the bug
I'm trying to install my university VPN inside of a distrobox container since they don't have builds for all Linux distributions. While I could successfully install other VPN services (such as Private Internet Access) the CISCO Secure Connect (Any Connect) was something I couldn't get working. The problem seems to be with the vpnagentd.service which is having problems running.

Here is the error generated by vpnagentd.service (inside of the guest machine)

stellix% sudo systemctl status vpnagentd.service
○ vpnagentd.service - Cisco Secure Client - AnyConnect VPN Agent
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/vpnagentd.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: inactive (dead) since Thu 2024-08-29 02:21:00 UTC; 6min ago
   Duration: 10.283s
    Process: 7718 ExecStartPre=/opt/cisco/secureclient/bin/load_tun.sh (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Process: 7722 ExecStart=/opt/cisco/secureclient/bin/vpnagentd -execv_instance (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 7722 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
        CPU: 286ms

Aug 29 02:21:00 stellix csc_vpnagent[7722]: Function: TerminateApps File: ../../vpn/AgentUtilities/IpcUtil.cpp Line: 415 Invoked Function: CIpcDepot::writeIpc Return Code: -33226745 (0xFE05>
Aug 29 02:21:00 stellix csc_vpnagent[7722]: Function: stopIpcDepot File: ../../vpn/Agent/MainThread.cpp Line: 2474 Invoked Function: CIpcUtil::TerminateApps Return Code: -33226745 (0xFE0500>
Aug 29 02:21:00 stellix csc_vpnagent[7722]: Function: CreateSingletonInstance File: ../../vpn/Agent/MainThread.cpp Line: 782 Invoked Function: CMainThread Return Code: -31588320 (0xFE1E0020>
Aug 29 02:21:00 stellix csc_vpnagent[7722]: Error Message to display to the user: The VPN client agent was unable to create the interprocess communication depot.
Aug 29 02:21:00 stellix csc_vpnagent[7722]: Function: initMsgCatalog File: ../../vpn/Common/i18n/MsgCatalog.cpp Line: 270 Failed to get a XmlLocalACPolMgr instance
Aug 29 02:21:00 stellix csc_vpnagent[7722]: Function: getLocalizationPath File: ../../vpn/Common/i18n/MsgCatalog.cpp Line: 894 Invoked Function: CInstanceSmartPtr<StoragePath> Return Code: >
Aug 29 02:21:00 stellix csc_vpnagent[7722]: Function: getEmbeddedLocalizationPath File: ../../vpn/Common/i18n/MsgCatalog.cpp Line: 918 Invoked Function: CInstanceSmartPtr<StoragePath> Retur>
Aug 29 02:21:00 stellix csc_vpnagent[7722]: Function: init File: ../../vpn/Common/i18n/MsgCatalog.cpp Line: 395 initialized catalog: AnyConnect with locale: c
Aug 29 02:21:00 stellix csc_vpnagent[7722]: Function: process File: ../../vpn/Agent/vpnagentd.cpp Line: 259 Invoked Function: CMainThread::CreateSingletonInstance Return Code: -31588320 (0x>
Aug 29 02:21:00 stellix csc_vpnagent[7722]: Cisco Secure Client - AnyConnect VPN Agent stopped, version 5.1.5.65

I suspect that this issue is because of the thing mentioned here:

https://community.cisco.com/t5/vpn/the-vpn-client-agent-was-unable-to-create-the-interprocess/td-p/3319331

Here are some other sources I used to find solutions to my problem:

• https://community.cisco.com/t5/vpn/error-in-anyconnect-client-installation/td-p/2619724
• https://community.cisco.com/t5/vpn/vpnagentd-crash-on-linux/td-p/2524709

The VPN works on a directly installed host machine.

Here is the exact command I used to generate the distobox container:

distrobox create -i ubuntu:latest --name "ubuntu-root" --init --additional-packages "systemd libpam-systemd" --home "/home/user/Data-Store/Distrobox/ubuntu-root" --root

To Reproduce
I'm not sure how you would reproduce this without a Cisco VPN connection.

Expected behavior
VPN connection routes traffic from host and guest though VPN.

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• Docker version 27.1.2, build d01f264bcc
• distrobox: 1.7.2.1
• Host Distribution: ArcoLinux (6.10.6-zen1-1-zen)
• pacman -S distrobox

[89luca89]

Indeed tha't difficult to reproduce for me
Can you try adding --unshare-ipc and see if it works?
You can incrementally try also with --unshare-devsys to check if that also can work