Demystify code signing and its importance in app development. Get help troubleshooting code signing issues and ensure your app is properly signed for distribution.

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CodeSign with out Certificate and Profile
We are facing issue with resigning the app which is developed by 3rd party. In this app we have Sharing functionality feature for which we have enabled Associated Domains capability. When we are signing the app with our certificate and profile this functionality is not working i.e when we are clicking on shared link in the app it is redirecting to app store page instead of content link. However, when 3rd party is directly using our certificate & profile then that functionality is working as expected. Could you please help us with the above issue why it is not working when we are resigning with our certificate and profile?
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Apr ’25
Replacing binary within app (in-situ upgrade) without breaking signing?
Yes, this is very likely the completely wrong way to do things but I would like to ask regardless. Currently with windows/linux I can perform an in-situ upgrade of an application by performing a download of the binary 'foo' and then doing a rename-and-replace and subsequently requesting the licencee to restart the program and all is good. With macOS, as the binary is within the foo.app ( Contents/macOS/foo ) I imagine I cannot perform a similar operation without breaking the signing of the foo.app itself? ....or, can I individually sign the binary foo for macOS and perform the same type of operation? Download new foo as foo.new rename current foo.app/Content/macOS/foo -> foo.old rename foo.new -> foo Restart application Again, I know this is very likely an un-macOS way of performing the task but as you can imagine with supporting cross-platform development it's usually easier to maintain a consistent method even if it's "not ideal".
Topic: Code Signing SubTopic: General
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Apr ’25
store-credentials for notarizing failed – Apple ID locked
Thanks in advance for any hint to solve the following account problem: I tried to store credentials for notarizing. Presumably with the wrong combination of entries (similar to signing) – using the name of my university instead of my Apple Account. xcrun notarytool store-credentials "notarytool-password" --apple-id "Berliner Hochschule fuer Technik" --team-id "8YAW3HL2QP" --password "my Apple-Account-pw" .. retried assuming a syntax error (like missing "). Got the error message: This process stores your credentials securely in the Keychain. You reference these credentials later using a profile name. Validating your credentials... `Error: HTTP status code: 401. Your Apple ID has been locked. Visit iForgot to reset your account (https://iforgot.apple.com), then generate a new app-specific password. Ensure that all authentication arguments are correct.` Happy to see: Signing is not affected and I still an can log in to my account on developer.apple.com. So notarizing “only” seems to be affected. But how to reset the account to resolve the issue? The iforgot.apple.com link does not help - I provided my iPhone-number but did not receive further messages – neither on the iPhone nor on my “developer” macbook. Many thanks in advance All the best Florian
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Apr ’25
After years, notarytool now cannot find Keychain item
For years, I've been shipping my apps with a Perl script that now invokes notarytool to get the notarization, using this command /usr/bin/xcrun notarytool submit --apple-id jerry@sheepsystems.com --keychain-profile SSYShipProduct --team-id 4MAMECY9VS --output-format json /Users/jk/blah/blah/MyApp.zip --wait I used this script with this command several times during September 2024 to ship my apps, and it worked. But now, the above command fails with: Error: No Keychain password item found for profile: SSYShipProduct Run 'notarytool store-credentials' to create another credential profile. Of course, I am now running later versions of macOS beta and Xcode than I was in September. Does anyone know the problem? Screenshots from Terminal and Keychain Access are attached. Thank you.
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Apr ’25
Electron and Notarization randomly failing.
I’m having trouble with the notary step of our electron app. It sometimes says “In progress” for days on end, where other times, it only takes 15-20 minutes. For the last few weeks, I’ve noticed that it will take longer than the 20 minutes if our app was using a not latest version of the electron module -- https://www.npmjs.com/package/electron. I would then update our codebase to build using the latest version, and then try to sign and notarize the app again, and it would work till a new version was released. This was the first time that that process didn’t work. Everything is on latest, and we’re still getting stuck “in progress” for days on end. We have been signing and Notarizing this app for years now, so it's not the first time we're trying to do this process To make matters stranger, I have two branches of the same exact code base – same dependencies, same source code, same everything – there is no difference. One sign and notarize works 100% of the time where the other one hasn’t worked yet. Any ideas would be helpful. I'm not really sure where to begin to debug this. Thanks!
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Apr ’25
add /usr/bin/codesign to acl for private key
Displaying attribute for a private key I see a number of applications that are allowed to access it without needing a password e.g. racoon; Keychain Access.app; Certificate Assitant.app etc.. I want to add /usr/bin/codesign to the list but the gui window that pops up when I click on + doesn't seem to allow me to do that :( How do I do it please
Topic: Code Signing SubTopic: General
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Apr ’25
codesign add extended attributes to some files
The Codesign command adds extended attributes to files that previously had no extended attributes. In my case codesign add following extended attributes to text file in Frrameworks folder: com.apple.cs.CodeDirectory com.apple.cs.CodeRequirements com.apple.cs.CodeRequirements-1 com.apple.cs.CodeSignature Can I somehow prevent this behavior? Thank you.
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Apr ’25
Xcode archive DriverKit application
I am trying to build a release for an application that installs a DriverKit driver. I created a Developer ID Application Profile with a valid certificate but I'm coming across this error in Xcode 16.3 that is preventing me from archiving: Xcode 14 and later requires a DriverKit development profile enabled for iOS and macOS. Visit the developer website to create or download a DriverKit profile. I thought I needed a Dev ID Application profile to distribute the application and that a Development profile is for testing. Is there something I'm missing?
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Apr ’25
App Rejected – Binary Invalid Despite Correct Code Signing Setup (Flutter + WebView App)
Hello everyone, I'm currently experiencing repeated "Invalid Binary" rejections when submitting my Flutter-based iOS app ("Master Tere") through App Store Connect. I've followed all the expected steps and guidelines, but the rejection contains no additional explanation beyond the "Invalid Binary" status. Here’s my current setup: Built using Flutter and Xcode 15.3 WebView-based app loading a professional portfolio site Runner target is signed automatically using Xcode Managed Profiles Certificates: Apple Development and Apple Distribution (auto-managed) Bundle ID: com.actuain.mastertere1 Version: 1.0.0, Build: 6 Deployment target: iOS 18.0 Device family: iPhone only All signing identities and provisioning profiles match for Debug and Release In my Info.plist, I’ve cleaned up legacy keys that might cause conflicts: ✅ Removed <key>UIMainStoryboardFile</key> (no storyboard is used) ✅ Removed <key>CFBundleSignature</key> as it was set to ???? ✅ Display name and Bundle ID align with Xcode project settings Despite all this, every time I upload through Xcode Organizer, I get an "Invalid Binary" error after processing. No issues are shown during archive validation. I suspect the issue may be related to: Flutter WebView integration with latest iOS SDKs Residual metadata in the archive from unused iOS storyboard references Possibly missing entitlements or capabilities not flagged by Xcode Questions: Are there any known issues affecting Flutter WebView apps recently (especially around Xcode 15.3 or iOS 18 SDK)? Is it mandatory to remove Main.storyboard from the project bundle even if it's not used? Could this issue be related to background modes, UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities, or entitlements even if not directly flagged? I’d appreciate any insights or experiences from others who’ve faced this issue recently. Thanks in advance! Luis Antonio Pinto Acosta
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Apr ’25
Notarization Taking Days
Hello all, I am attempting to notarize my newly made Mac OS application using the notarization command in VS Code. "/Users/teejgotit/Desktop/Cursor Workspace/Rust CutContour v2/cutcontour-app/src-tauri/target/release/bundle/dmg/CC Studio_0.1.0_aarch64.dmg" \ --key "/Users/teejgotit/AppleCerts/AuthKey_MATVLX3.p8" \ --key-id "MATVLX9" \ --issuer "887ba428-aa39-4fb3-a3dc-f83b9145cab0" \ --wait Only to be met with a continual "Current State: In Progress.." for what has been about 1 day and 16 hours now. Current status: In Progress........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ My app and project are rather small and was curious if this is a normal thing for this to day takes for a first time notarization? Would love any help or feedback.
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Apr ’25
Universal Links Not Working on iOS 18 Due to App Re-signing
Hello, we are currently encountering a similar issue. We need to inject our capabilities into a third-party app by re-signing it (not a full re-signing process—just requiring the provisioning profile and certificate to match). However, this seems to affect the functionality of universal links. We've found that this issue only occurs on iOS 18. We noticed that when re-signing the app, the entitlements related to associated domains are changed to a wildcard: [Key] com.apple.developer.associated-domains [Value] [Array] [String] * However, this doesn’t cause any issues on iOS 17. Through further testing, we discovered that in order for universal links to work properly, we need to restore the original value of com.apple.developer.associated-domains and use a provisioning profile that matches the app's bundle ID. This means our previous re-signing approach using a certificate and provisioning profile from another bundle will no longer work. We’d like to ask: is this a new restriction introduced in iOS 18? If we manually restore the original com.apple.developer.associated-domains entitlement and use a provisioning profile that matches the app’s bundle ID, will universal links function correctly going forward?
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Apr ’25
Gatekeeper "bundle_id: NOT_A_BUNDLE" rejection
Context: large platform-agnostic CLI tool built as a handcrafted bundle (not via an Xcode project) that has been successfully codesigned, stapled, and zipped; macOS 14.7.5 syspolicy_check reports App passed all pre-distribution checks and is ready for distribution. However, running the executable in the Terminal produces a "cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified" popup. The executable does succeed after manually clearing its quarantine attribute. Having worked through Resolving Gatekeeper Problems, the only detail logged in the Console is Adding Gatekeeper denial breadcrumb (direct): ... bundle_id: NOT_A_BUNDLE. Experimental observations: a minimized trivial CLI executable with a similar bundle layout and name successfully executes without being rejected, and oddly, renaming the original bundle from "name" to "name.suffix" allows it to be successfully executed. It's unclear why the bundle name would affect Gatekeeper only in some circumstances, and we'd greatly prefer not to rename the bundle for compatibility reasons, so it would be good if there were some way to get further diagnostic detail leading to a workaround - thank you.
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Apr ’25
macOS 11.x system reported an error when using endpoint security
This is my .entitlements file: Code signing: codesign --sign -vvv --timestamp --options=runtime --force --entitlements ./UES.entitlements -s "Developer ID Application: XXX. (XXXXXXX)" ./UES.app I work fine in the macOS 13.x system, but the "killed" error occurs in macOS11.x. The system log is displayed as follows: (If codesign remove the --entitlements ./UES.entitlements, it will operate normally) 2025-04-21 13:58:27.039638+0800 0xd5941 Default 0x0 149 0 amfid: /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES signature not valid: -67050 2025-04-21 13:58:27.039762+0800 0xd5bbf Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: mac_vnode_check_signature: /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES: code signature validation failed fatally: When validating /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES: 2025-04-21 13:58:27.039815+0800 0xd5bbf Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: proc 29354: load code signature error 4 for file "UES" 2025-04-21 13:58:27.040720+0800 0xd5bc0 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSystemPolicy) ASP: Security policy would not allow process: 29354, /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES 2025-04-21 13:58:27.045974+0800 0xd58be Error 0x0 66405 0 CoreServicesUIAgent: [com.apple.launchservices:uiagent] handle LS launch error: {\n Action = oapp;\n AppMimimumSystemVersion = "10.13";\n AppPath = "/Applications/UES.app";\n ErrorCode = "-10826";\n} 2025-04-21 13:58:39.121619+0800 0xd5941 Default 0x0 149 0 amfid: /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES signature not valid: -67050 2025-04-21 13:58:39.121832+0800 0xd5e0f Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: mac_vnode_check_signature: /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES: code signature validation failed fatally: When validating /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES: 2025-04-21 13:58:39.121861+0800 0xd5e0f Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: proc 29415: load code signature error 4 for file "UES" 2025-04-21 13:58:39.122571+0800 0xd5e10 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSystemPolicy) ASP: Security policy would not allow process: 29415, /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES 2025-04-21 13:58:46.297915+0800 0xd5941 Default 0x0 149 0 amfid: /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES signature not valid: -67050 2025-04-21 13:58:46.298031+0800 0xd5f85 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: mac_vnode_check_signature: /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES: code signature validation failed fatally: When validating /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES: 2025-04-21 13:58:46.298072+0800 0xd5f85 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: proc 29485: load code signature error 4 for file "UES" 2025-04-21 13:58:46.300248+0800 0xd5f86 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSystemPolicy) ASP: Security policy would not allow process: 29485, /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES What causes the pattern to be narrow?
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Apr ’25
macOS 11.x system reported an error when using endpoint security
This is .entitlements file: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>com.apple.developer.endpoint-security.client</key> <true/> </dict> </plist> Code signing: codesign --sign -vvv --timestamp --options=runtime --force --entitlements ./UES.entitlements -s "Developer ID Application: XXXX Ltd. (XXXXXX)" ./UES.app When I run it on macOS 13.x, it works fine. If I run the system on macOS 11.x, it reports a "killed" error (if codesign remove --entitlements ./UES.entitlements, Then the startup will not report an error, but the endpoint security rights cannot be used) System log: 2025-04-21 13:58:27.039638+0800 0xd5941 Default 0x0 149 0 amfid: /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES signature not valid: -67050 2025-04-21 13:58:27.039762+0800 0xd5bbf Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: mac_vnode_check_signature: /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES: code signature validation failed fatally: When validating /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES: 2025-04-21 13:58:27.039815+0800 0xd5bbf Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: proc 29354: load code signature error 4 for file "UES" 2025-04-21 13:58:27.040720+0800 0xd5bc0 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSystemPolicy) ASP: Security policy would not allow process: 29354, /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES 2025-04-21 13:58:27.045974+0800 0xd58be Error 0x0 66405 0 CoreServicesUIAgent: [com.apple.launchservices:uiagent] handle LS launch error: {\n Action = oapp;\n AppMimimumSystemVersion = "10.13";\n AppPath = "/Applications/UES.app";\n ErrorCode = "-10826";\n} 2025-04-21 13:58:39.121619+0800 0xd5941 Default 0x0 149 0 amfid: /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES signature not valid: -67050 2025-04-21 13:58:39.121832+0800 0xd5e0f Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: mac_vnode_check_signature: /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES: code signature validation failed fatally: When validating /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES: 2025-04-21 13:58:39.121861+0800 0xd5e0f Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: proc 29415: load code signature error 4 for file "UES" 2025-04-21 13:58:39.122571+0800 0xd5e10 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSystemPolicy) ASP: Security policy would not allow process: 29415, /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES 2025-04-21 13:58:46.297915+0800 0xd5941 Default 0x0 149 0 amfid: /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES signature not valid: -67050 2025-04-21 13:58:46.298031+0800 0xd5f85 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: mac_vnode_check_signature: /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES: code signature validation failed fatally: When validating /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES: 2025-04-21 13:58:46.298072+0800 0xd5f85 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: proc 29485: load code signature error 4 for file "UES" 2025-04-21 13:58:46.300248+0800 0xd5f86 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSystemPolicy) ASP: Security policy would not allow process: 29485, /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES May I ask what the reason is?
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Apr ’25
macOS 11.x system reported an error when using endpoint security
This is .entitlements file: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>com.apple.developer.endpoint-security.client</key> <true/> </dict> </plist> Code signing: codesign --sign -vvv --timestamp --options=runtime --force --entitlements ./UES.entitlements -s "Developer ID Application: XXXX Ltd. (XXXXXX)" ./UES.app When I run it on macOS 13.x, it works fine. If I run the system on macOS 11.x, it reports a "killed" error (if codesign remove --entitlements ./UES.entitlements, Then the startup will not report an error, but the endpoint security rights cannot be used) System log: 2025-04-21 13:58:27.039638+0800 0xd5941 Default 0x0 149 0 amfid: /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES signature not valid: -67050 2025-04-21 13:58:27.039762+0800 0xd5bbf Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: mac_vnode_check_signature: /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES: code signature validation failed fatally: When validating /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES: 2025-04-21 13:58:27.039815+0800 0xd5bbf Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: proc 29354: load code signature error 4 for file "UES" 2025-04-21 13:58:27.040720+0800 0xd5bc0 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSystemPolicy) ASP: Security policy would not allow process: 29354, /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES 2025-04-21 13:58:27.045974+0800 0xd58be Error 0x0 66405 0 CoreServicesUIAgent: [com.apple.launchservices:uiagent] handle LS launch error: {\n Action = oapp;\n AppMimimumSystemVersion = "10.13";\n AppPath = "/Applications/UES.app";\n ErrorCode = "-10826";\n} 2025-04-21 13:58:39.121619+0800 0xd5941 Default 0x0 149 0 amfid: /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES signature not valid: -67050 2025-04-21 13:58:39.121832+0800 0xd5e0f Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: mac_vnode_check_signature: /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES: code signature validation failed fatally: When validating /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES: 2025-04-21 13:58:39.121861+0800 0xd5e0f Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: proc 29415: load code signature error 4 for file "UES" 2025-04-21 13:58:39.122571+0800 0xd5e10 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSystemPolicy) ASP: Security policy would not allow process: 29415, /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES 2025-04-21 13:58:46.297915+0800 0xd5941 Default 0x0 149 0 amfid: /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES signature not valid: -67050 2025-04-21 13:58:46.298031+0800 0xd5f85 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: mac_vnode_check_signature: /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES: code signature validation failed fatally: When validating /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES: 2025-04-21 13:58:46.298072+0800 0xd5f85 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: proc 29485: load code signature error 4 for file "UES" 2025-04-21 13:58:46.300248+0800 0xd5f86 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSystemPolicy) ASP: Security policy would not allow process: 29485, /Applications/UES.app/Contents/MacOS/UES May I ask what the reason is?
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Apr ’25
Notarization service says signature invalid, but codesign says it's fine
I'm trying to get an app notarized, which fails with this error: The signature of the binary is invalid. However, locally checking the signature does succeed: $ codesign -vvv --deep --strict TheApp.app […] TheApp.app: valid on disk TheApp.app: satisfies its Designated Requirement Performing this check on every single item in the app's MacOS folder also succeeds. Context: embedded prebuilt binaries Now, the app has something unusual about it: it embeds prebuilt binaries, arranged in various nested folders. So, the app bundle's MacOS folder actually contains another folder with a whole tree of executables and libraries: Removing these (before building) does fix the notarization issue, but obviously I'd like to keep them in. I did my best to properly sign these items: At build time, they're copied into the product by a Copy Files phase (but not signed), then signed by a script phase That signing uses the same signing identity as the running Xcode build, and enables the hardened runtime The app builds and runs correctly, even as a release build The app has runtime hardening and app sandbox enabled How should I go about diagnosing the notarization issue?
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Apr ’25
Notarising two builds of the same app
I have built my application for arm and x64 so I have two files called DeepSkyStacker.app in different directories. I have followed the instructions to notarise the arm version of the app, but an concerned about what I should do to notarise the other one - do I just zip that up and then run: xcrun notarytool submit "DeepSkyStacker.zip" --keychain-profile "Notary Profile for DeepSkyStacker" --wait xcrun stapler staple DeepSkyStacker.app again or will that mess everything up? Related to that can I use the Notary Profile I created for DeepSkyStacker to notarise other apps that are part of the same product (DeepSkyStackerLive and DeepSkyStackerCL)?? Thanks David
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125
Apr ’25
Disabling Hardened Runtime For Ad Hoc Signing Only
How can I disable Hardened Runtime in Xcode only when signing ad hoc? If I make a new project, Xcode will say Disabling hardened runtime with ad-hoc codesigning. at the beginning of the build logs. However, somehow my project isn't doing this -- it's still hardening the runtime when ad-hoc signing. What should I do to debug this?
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Apr ’25