Pulse Secure v9.0.3 B1599 and macOS Mojave network slowdown bug

[amartin253]

I have confirmed a bug in the latest version of Pulse Secure VPN with macOS Mojave (regardless of what version (10.14.0 - 10.14.3 have the same results). Regardless of whether you are currently connected to VPN or not, the app appears to be the culprit of a major network slowdown.

Behavior: If you connect to VPN and then disconnect but the app is still running in the background (which is the default and expected) network speeds on WiFi or Ethernet are significantly slower than normal if you are on any version of macOS Mojave. By slower, I mean, you normally get 850-900mbps on Ethernet and you get 50-100mbps. On WiFi, you normally get 150-200mbps and you are getting 10-20mbps.

Temporary workaround: Quit Pulse Secure VPN entirely by clicking on the icon in the toolbar and selecting Exit. You will be prompted if you are sure. Click OK.

I have confirmed at least 5 cases within my organization (which is still testing Mojave for production level support) and confirmed this discovery when reaching out on the MacAdmins Slack workspace and found fellow Mac users with the issue and the one commonality was Pulse Secure v9.0.2 or v9.0.3 installed.

[[email protected]]

Yes.. It was documented in this KB,

KB44000 - After installing Pulse Desktop Client 9.0RX (macOS) and above, network speed begin to decrease slowly over time when not connected to a VPN tunnel.

[chrrac]

Pulse Desktop Client, Release Notes 9.0R3.2, PDC 9.0R3, 1667
Fixed Issues in 9.0R3.2 Release
PRS-371051 Summary: Installing Pulse Client 9.0R2+ on macOS causes crippling performance to hit over time.

I upgraded to V9.0.3 (1667) and i am gaining experience if KB44000 is bound to this fix PRS-371051.

[[email protected]]

Pulse Client 9.0R3.2 (1667) will fix the reported issue (slowdown bug).. not sure why the KB article was not updated..

[chrrac]

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT209149 •Resolves Wi-Fi connection issues that may occur after upgrading to macOS Mojave.

I upgraded my MacOS to 10.14.4 (Mojave) this morning. I am testing if Pulse Secure 9.0.3 (1667) and 10.14.4 (Mojave) and "Sleep Mode" and Wifi behaves differently now.

[chrrac]

No major issues since upgrade with MacOS 10.14.4 (Mojave) and Pulse Secure 9.0.3 (1667) apart from
MacOS users making use of "sleep" feature together with Wifi which leads to 1-2 minutes for
successful reconnection.

[zanyterp]

do you also have traffic enforcement enabled?
if yes, can you disable it and test?

[chrrac]

I disabled traffic enforcement for IPv4 for a specific group of "users" and will let you know outcome.

users>user roles>rolename>vpn tunneling>options>traffic enforcement ... Disabled, IPv4 and IPv6 are untagged

[zanyterp]

thank you for testing

[chrrac]

Since i disabled (untagged) traffic enforcement for a specific group of "users" the reconnection works fine for them using Pulse Secure V.9.0.3 1667 (we got rid of V.9.0.3 B1599 a couple of weeks ago).

It looks promising. I disabled traffic enforcement for IPv4 for ALL "users" today and will let you know outcome.

users>user roles>rolename>vpn tunneling>options>traffic enforcement ... Disabled, IPv4 and IPv6 are untagged