Use STDOUT as input for openvpn auth-user-pass

Question

I am writing a bash script to automatically connect to VPNBook's free openvpn service. I gather the username and password by calling a python script which currently just prints them to STDOUT.

The python script to gather the username and password is:

#!/bin/python

# title:                       vpnbook-user-pass©                    
# description:                 Gather vpnbooks username - password combinantion
# author:                      jack herer                    
# date:                        Tuesday 06 October 2015 @ 10:29:14 am
# version:                     v1.0                          
# usage:                       python vpnbook-user-pass                    
# notes:                       ~                             
# bash version:                4.3.30(1)-release             
#========================================                               
# Copyright © | jack herer | 2015 
#========================================

from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
import requests

response = requests.get('http://vpnbook.com/freevpn')
soup = BeautifulSoup(response.text, 'html.parser')
pricing = soup.find(id = 'pricing')
first_column = pricing.find('div', {'class': 'one-third'})
for li in first_column.find('ul', {'class': 'disc'}):
    if 'username' in str(li).lower():
        username = li.find('strong').text
print('The username and password combinantion is:')
print(username)

response = requests.get('http://vpnbook.com/freevpn')
soup = BeautifulSoup(response.text, 'html.parser')
pricing = soup.find(id = 'pricing')
first_column = pricing.find('div', {'class': 'one-third'})
for li in first_column.find('ul', {'class': 'disc'}):
    if 'password' in str(li).lower():
        password = li.find('strong').text
print(password)  

The STDOUT of the python script is:

The username and password combinantion is:
vpnbook  
JE5Raphu  

The bash script so far:

# !/bin/bash - 

# title:                       auto-vpn©                    
# description:                 Automatically connect to vpnbook's free vpn service
# author:                      jack herer                    
# date:                        Thursday 08 October 2015 @ 11:49:21 am
# version:                     v1.0                          
# usage:                       ./auto-vpn                    
# notes:                       ~                             
# bash version:                4.3.30(1)-release             
#========================================                               
# Copyright © | jack herer | 2015 
#========================================

userpass=$(python ~/vpnbook-user-pass)
echo "${userpass} "
cd $HOME/vpnbook/
openvpn --config vpnbook-euro1-tcp443.ovpn

The last command openvpn --config vpnbook-euro1-tcp443.ovpn then runs and asks me to input a username and password like this:

Thu Oct  8 13:20:28 2015 OpenVPN 2.3.4 i586-pc-linux-gnu [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [EPOLL] [PKCS11] [MH] [IPv6] built on Dec  1 2014
Thu Oct  8 13:20:28 2015 library versions: OpenSSL 1.0.1k 8 Jan 2015, LZO 2.08
Enter Auth Username: 
Enter Auth Password:  

How can I get my script to input the username and password that is gathered with the python script?

I don't mind whether this is a bash or python script all options are open, but must be in bash or python.

Answer 1

Have a look at the --auth-user-pass option (here).

The probably easiest way for you is to remove the line with "The username and password combinantion is:" from your python script and start openvpn from bash this way (works for me):

openvpn --config vpnbook-euro1-tcp443.ovpn --auth-user-pass <( python ~/vpnbook-user-pass )

---

Generally, something like:

openvpn --config vpnbook-euro1-tcp443.ovpn --auth-user-pass <( echo -e "${userName}\n${password}" )

should work as well (works for me).

---

Alternatively you can save the credentials to a file (make sure it is not world-readable) and pass this file as an argument after --auth-user-pass.

See this question.

EDIT>

Confirmed this as working (for me):

#!/usr/bin/python

from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
import requests

response = requests.get('http://vpnbook.com/freevpn')
soup = BeautifulSoup(response.text, 'html.parser')
pricing = soup.find(id = 'pricing')
first_column = pricing.find('div', {'class': 'one-third'})
for li in first_column.find('ul', {'class': 'disc'}):
    if 'username' in str(li).lower():
        username = li.find('strong').text
    if 'password' in str(li).lower():
        password = li.find('strong').text
print(username)
print(password)

Used in bash:

openvpn --config vpnbook-euro1-tcp443.ovpn --auth-user-pass <( ./fvpn3.py )

---

Output of openvpn --version:

OpenVPN 2.3.4 x86_64-pc-linux-gnu [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [EPOLL] [PKCS11] [MH] [IPv6] built on Dec 1 2014
library versions: OpenSSL 1.0.1k 8 Jan 2015, LZO 2.08
Originally developed by James Yonan
Copyright (C) 2002-2010 OpenVPN Technologies, Inc.
Compile time defines: enable_crypto=yes enable_debug=yes enable_def_auth=yes enable_dependency_tracking=no enable_dlopen=unknown enable_dlopen_self=unknown enable_dlopen_self_static=unknown enable_fast_install=yes enable_fragment=yes enable_http_proxy=yes enable_iproute2=yes enable_libtool_lock=yes enable_lzo=yes enable_lzo_stub=no enable_maintainer_mode=no enable_management=yes enable_multi=yes enable_multihome=yes enable_pam_dlopen=no enable_password_save=yes enable_pedantic=no enable_pf=yes enable_pkcs11=yes enable_plugin_auth_pam=yes enable_plugin_down_root=yes enable_plugins=yes enable_port_share=yes enable_selinux=no enable_server=yes enable_shared=yes enable_shared_with_static_runtimes=no enable_small=no enable_socks=yes enable_ssl=yes enable_static=yes enable_strict=no enable_strict_options=no enable_systemd=yes enable_win32_dll=yes enable_x509_alt_username=yes with_crypto_library=openssl with_gnu_ld=yes with_ifconfig_path=/sbin/ifconfig with_iproute_path=/sbin/ip with_mem_check=no with_plugindir='${prefix}/lib/openvpn' with_route_path=/sbin/route with_sysroot=no
git revision: refs/heads/jessie/b35ad09bfc4a26e7

(Please note the enable_password_save=yes)

Output of bash --version:

GNU bash, version 4.3.30(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
Copyright (C) 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html

Good luck!