Incident report: NymVPN connectivity problem on 22 May 2025

On the morning (UTC) of 22 May 2025, users began experiencing connectivity issues with NymVPN. The app remained stuck in the “Connecting…” state due to issues with gateway availability. The Nym team identified the problem as stemming from a stale gateway directory cache and responded throughout the day with updates and mitigations.

🕒 Timeline of events

• Morning (UTC): Users begin reporting connection issues
• 10:52 UTC: Issue acknowledged publicly via website banners and social media
• 12:20 UTC, 13:27 UTC: Follow-up updates issued as investigation progressed
• 15:20 UTC: Service recovery confirmed and final update posted

🔍 Root cause

• A stale cache of the NymVPN gateway directory caused apps to display gateways that had recently become unavailable
• As a result, users saw and attempted to connect to gateways that could no longer be reached

🛠️ Resolution & mitigation

• The cache is now refreshed every minute, and the CDN layer is limited to a 2-minute cache lifespan. This ensures users receive more up-to-date gateway lists
• The NymVPN apps will be updated with the following behavior:

1. When a country is selected, fallback to another gateway in the same country
2. If a specific gateway is chosen, prompt users to choose another gateway manually

💡 Improvements & next steps

• Closer monitoring of caching behavior is now in place
• The NymVPN API is being migrated to a self-hosted environment to increase control and reliability
• Future app updates will improve gateway selection logic and user fallback handling