ESET Kernel;Limited Direct Cloud connectivity.

[howardagoldberg 14]

This morning, about 15 minutes after booting up my computer, the warning message (orange) below popped up in the notification area:

ESET Antivirus 14.0.22.0

03/02/2021 6:25:09 AM;

ESET Kernel;Limited Direct Cloud connectivity.

For more info see: https://support.eset.com/en/kb332

I have had ESET installed on my system for about four years (since I put it into operation, in fact!) and have never seen this error before.

By the time I opened up the ESET GUI, the notification had disappeared (except of course, in the log), and the GUI was showing all green with no issues. 

I have changed nothing in terms of ports on my router (or computer or firewall - using Windows firewall), and no updates for Windows have been installed over the past (at least) 96 hours.

Is this something I need to be concerned about, or was this just a temporary communications glitch between my system and ESET?

I have a similarly configured system sitting on the same desk, attached to the same network, also running ESET and no warning issued popped up and does not exist in the log.

Please advise. Thank you! 

[Marcos 5,074]

If you use a firewall, make sure that ekrn.exe has communication on TCP/UDP port 53535 permitted as per https://support.eset.com/en/kb332.

 

[howardagoldberg 14]

36 minutes ago, Marcos said:

If you use a firewall, make sure that ekrn.exe has communication on TCP/UDP port 53535 permitted as per https://support.eset.com/en/kb332.

 

@Marcos As stated in my original post: I use Windows built-in firewall and have not made any changes to it. No updates installed in at least 96 hours. ESET has been installed on this system for years, and this is the first time I saw this error message.

At this moment, if I open up the GUI, it's all 'green' with no errors.

So, again ... my question is: should I be concerned or is this likely a momentary communications glitch at my and/or ESET's end? My other computer, with a similar configuration on the same network, shows no error in the log.

I read the KB ... there is nothing in it that applied to me as I never made changes to what ports were open, etc.

Edited March 2, 2021 by howardagoldberg

[Marcos 5,074]

1 minute ago, howardagoldberg said:

So, again ... my question is: should I be concerned or is this likely a momentary communications glitch at my and/or ESET's end? My other computer, with a similar configuration on the same network, shows no error in the log.

We can't tell without reproducing the issue and getting logs. Should it happen again, enable advanced antispam logging in the advanced setup -> tools -> diagnostics, reproduce the issue, disable logging, collect logs with ESET Log Collector and post the generated archive here.

[howardagoldberg 14]

55 minutes ago, Marcos said:

We can't tell without reproducing the issue and getting logs. Should it happen again, enable advanced antispam logging in the advanced setup -> tools -> diagnostics, reproduce the issue, disable logging, collect logs with ESET Log Collector and post the generated archive here.

@Marcos ... I have never seen this error before on my system (again, have been running ESET on it for 4+ years), or any other system I have ESET installed on (I have been a user for probably 20 years). So:

1) How would I go about reproducing an issue that I suspect is actually a glitch on ESET's end and/or somewhere between my ISP and ESET's servers, and

2) More importantly - if the GUI is 'all green' with no orange/red warning messages, is it safe to assume I am fully protected? Again, the error message popped up, and within the 20 seconds it took me to open the GUI, it had 'resolved' (ESET was 'all green').

Is it possible for someone at your end to check ESET's logs to see if there was a momentary communications glitch?

That seems like the most probable cause, I was only looking for confirmation, since as far as I know, it will be impossible for me to manually reproduce what seems to be a very esoteric issue (even if it happens again).

Also, to reiterate -- I have another computer on the same desk, connected to the router in the same way as this system (ethernet), with a similar software configuration (including ESET AV and Windows Firewall) - and no such error was displayed or recorded. That further bolsters the likelihood that this was not a local issue.

Edited March 2, 2021 by howardagoldberg

[Marcos 5,074]

I would consider the issue resolved unless you are able to reproduce it. On our end we didn't notice any issues and haven't received any other reports about the issue either. Therefore we would need logs from your machine should the issue occur again.

[howardagoldberg 14]

3 minutes ago, Marcos said:

I would consider the issue resolved unless you are able to reproduce it. On our end we didn't notice any issues and haven't received any other reports about the issue either. Therefore we would need logs from your machine should the issue occur again.

But how would I gather logs after the fact, if this is completely random and unpredictable? I can't run with logging enabled indefinitely 'just in case' ...

[Marcos 5,074]

Advanced antispam logging doesn't produce big logs, it could be enabled even for weeks without consuming a lot of disk space.

[howardagoldberg 14]

5 minutes ago, Marcos said:

Advanced antispam logging doesn't produce big logs, it could be enabled even for weeks without consuming a lot of disk space.

Are you suggesting I turn it on and just leave it on forever? That seems like putting a hammer to a pushpin ... I doubt that I am the *only* one who experienced this. That seems highly unlikely.

[Marcos 5,074]

4 minutes ago, howardagoldberg said:

Are you suggesting I turn it on and just leave it on forever? That seems like putting a hammer to a pushpin ... I doubt that I am the *only* one who experienced this. That seems highly unlikely.

Not forever, it would be enough to keep it enabled for 1-2 weeks, then you can disable it. If the issue doesn't occur, it was probably a kind of glitch that doesn't recur.

[howardagoldberg 14]

9 hours ago, Marcos said:

Not forever, it would be enough to keep it enabled for 1-2 weeks, then you can disable it. If the issue doesn't occur, it was probably a kind of glitch that doesn't recur.

This definitely looks like a communication issue at ESET's end. There is nothing I did that would have restored the connection.

Disturbingly, during the time between 6:25 a.m. and 7:27 a.m., there was no indication that anything was wrong (as noted above).

Thoughts?

[Marcos 5,074]

Please provide logs collected with ESET Log Collector if advanced antispam logging was enabled when the error occurred.

[howardagoldberg 14]

18 minutes ago, Marcos said:

Please provide logs collected with ESET Log Collector if advanced antispam logging was enabled when the error occurred.

@Marcos As has been stated several times already, the error only occurred once, and therefore, logging was not enabled at the time of the original error or when 'connectivity was restored' as per the screenshot I shared.

[Marcos 5,074]

As suggested before, I'd recommend enabling advanced antispam logging. If the errror occurs, disable logging and provide logs collected with ESET Log Collector. Since we haven't received any other reports of the error, there might have been a temporary connection issue between your ISP and ESET's servers.