Troubleshooting: RADIUS Client Timeout Causes Duplicate Access-Request Errors

Version Affected: All
 
 

Overview

Users authenticating through a RADIUS client eventually get logged in, but the RADIUS server logs repeated error messages similar to: PasswordState: Second factors query failed for user: [username]. Authentication header has been seen before.

 

Cause

The RADIUS client's timeout setting is too short. Because of data store lookup dependencies, the RADIUS authentication workflow needs a minimum of 5 seconds to complete a request. A shorter timeout — a typical Cisco ACS default is 3 seconds — causes the client to send a duplicate Access-Request message before the RADIUS server has had a chance to respond to the first one.

 

Resolution

Increase the RADIUS client's timeout and retry interval to 5–10 seconds. This change is made on the device, appliance, or service that calls the RADIUS server — not on the RADIUS server itself. This gives the authentication workflow enough time to complete, including any delay from the data store lookup.

 

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