General: Forums topic: Privacy & Security Apple Platform Security support document Developer > Security Enabling enhanced security for your app documentation article Creating enhanced security helper extensions documentation article Security Audit Thoughts forums post Cryptography: Forums tags: Security, Apple CryptoKit Security framework documentation Apple CryptoKit framework documentation Common Crypto man pages — For the full list of pages, run: % man -k 3cc For more information about man pages, see Reading UNIX Manual Pages. On Cryptographic Key Formats forums post SecItem attributes for keys forums post CryptoCompatibility sample code Keychain: Forums tags: Security Security > Keychain Items documentation TN3137 On Mac keychain APIs and implementations SecItem Fundamentals forums post SecItem Pitfalls and Best Practices forums post Investigating hard-to-reproduce keychain problems forums post App ID Prefix Change and Keychain Access forums post Smart cards and other secure tokens: Forums tag: CryptoTokenKit CryptoTokenKit framework documentation Mac-specific resources: Forums tags: Security Foundation, Security Interface Security Foundation framework documentation Security Interface framework documentation BSD Privilege Escalation on macOS Related: Networking Resources — This covers high-level network security, including HTTPS and TLS. Network Extension Resources — This covers low-level network security, including VPN and content filters. Code Signing Resources Notarisation Resources Trusted Execution Resources — This includes Gatekeeper. App Sandbox Resources Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

General: Forums topic: Privacy & Security Privacy Resources Security Resources Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Hi, when creating a CryptoTokenKit extension according to https://developer.apple.com/documentation/cryptotokenkit/authenticating-users-with-a-cryptographic-token, it is neccessary to register it under the securityagent in order to make the CTK usable before login. i.e. we want to run sudo -u _securityagent /Applications/HostApp.app/Contents/MacOS/HostApp However, even with the empty application the command fails with illegal hardware instruction sudo -u _securityagent /Applications/HostApp.app/Contents/MacOS/HostApp I see that it always crashes when the HostApp is sandboxed, but it does not work even without sandboxing (i am sharing the error report message below). i actually noticed that when the HostApp is sandboxed and I run the above command, the extension starts to be usable even before login, even though i see the HostApp crash. The same does not happen without the sandbox So I am curious how to in fact properly register the CTK extension under security agent? Also am not sure how to unregister it from the _securityagent thank you for your help Version: 1.0 (1) Code Type: X86-64 (Native) Parent Process: Exited process [9395] Responsible: Terminal [399] User ID: 92 Date/Time: 2025-03-21 18:54:03.0684 +0100 OS Version: macOS 15.3.2 (24D81) Report Version: 12 Bridge OS Version: 9.3 (22P3060) Anonymous UUID: 41F9918C-5BCA-01C7-59C2-3E8CFC3F8653 Sleep/Wake UUID: 8AB66C75-3C32-41D4-9BD4-887B0FB468FE Time Awake Since Boot: 4300 seconds Time Since Wake: 1369 seconds System Integrity Protection: enabled Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: WMClientWindowManager Exception Type: EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION (SIGILL) Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000000 Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 4 Illegal instruction: 4 Terminating Process: exc handler [9396] Application Specific Signatures: API Misuse Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: WMClientWindowManager 0 libxpc.dylib 0x7ff80667b2bd _xpc_api_misuse + 113 1 libxpc.dylib 0x7ff80665f0e4 xpc_connection_set_target_uid + 187 2 WindowManagement 0x7ffd0b946693 -[WMClientWindowManager _createXPCConnection] + 1011 3 WindowManagement 0x7ffd0b947361 -[WMClientWindowManager _xpcConnection] + 65 4 WindowManagement 0x7ffd0b9447c9 __31-[WMClientWindowManager stages]_block_invoke + 41 5 libdispatch.dylib 0x7ff8067af7e2 _dispatch_client_callout + 8 6 libdispatch.dylib 0x7ff8067bca2c _dispatch_lane_barrier_sync_invoke_and_complete + 60 7 WindowManagement 0x7ffd0b9446fc -[WMClientWindowManager stages] + 268 8 AppKit 0x7ff80b1fd0b7 __54-[NSWMWindowCoordinator initializeStageFramesIfNeeded]_block_invoke + 30 9 libdispatch.dylib 0x7ff8067af7e2 _dispatch_client_callout + 8 10 libdispatch.dylib 0x7ff8067b0aa2 _dispatch_once_callout + 20 11 AppKit 0x7ff80b1fd060 -[NSWMWindowCoordinator initializeStageFramesIfNeeded] + 296 12 AppKit 0x7ff80a3b3701 -[NSWindow _commonInitFrame:styleMask:backing:defer:] + 888 13 AppKit 0x7ff80a3b2f77 -[NSWindow _initContent:styleMask:backing:defer:contentView:] + 1222 14 AppKit 0x7ff80a3b2aa9 -[NSWindow initWithContentRect:styleMask:backing:defer:] + 42 15 SwiftUI 0x7ff917f321e0 0x7ff91776f000 + 8139232 16 SwiftUI 0x7ff917a8e2f2 0x7ff91776f000 + 3273458 17 SwiftUI 0x7ff917bccfba 0x7ff91776f000 + 4579258 18 SwiftUI 0x7ff917f2ca8e 0x7ff91776f000 + 8116878 19 SwiftUI 0x7ff917f24a65 0x7ff91776f000 + 8084069 20 SwiftUI 0x7ff917f21540 0x7ff91776f000 + 8070464 21 SwiftUI 0x7ff91849e9f1 0x7ff91776f000 + 13826545 22 SwiftUICore 0x7ffb13103ea5 0x7ffb12c81000 + 4730533 23 SwiftUICore 0x7ffb13102e0f 0x7ffb12c81000 + 4726287 24 SwiftUI 0x7ff91849e903 0x7ff91776f000 + 13826307 25 SwiftUI 0x7ff91849bc1c 0x7ff91776f000 + 13814812 26 AppKit 0x7ff80a54f191 -[NSApplication _doOpenUntitled] + 422 27 AppKit 0x7ff80a4efc59 __58-[NSApplication(NSAppleEventHandling) _handleAEOpenEvent:]_block_invoke + 237 28 AppKit 0x7ff80a963818 __102-[NSApplication _reopenWindowsAsNecessaryIncludingRestorableState:withFullFidelity:completionHandler:]_block_invoke + 101 29 AppKit 0x7ff80a4ef6fa __97-[NSDocumentController(NSInternal) _autoreopenDocumentsIgnoringExpendable:withCompletionHandler:]_block_invoke_3 + 148 30 AppKit 0x7ff80a4eee8f -[NSDocumentController(NSInternal) _autoreopenDocumentsIgnoringExpendable:withCompletionHandler:] + 635 31 AppKit 0x7ff80a96373d -[NSApplication _reopenWindowsAsNecessaryIncludingRestorableState:withFullFidelity:completionHandler:] + 269 32 AppKit 0x7ff80a3a6259 -[NSApplication(NSAppleEventHandling) _handleAEOpenEvent:] + 529 33 AppKit 0x7ff80a3a5eb9 -[NSApplication(NSAppleEventHandling) _handleCoreEvent:withReplyEvent:] + 679 34 Foundation 0x7ff807a4b471 -[NSAppleEventManager dispatchRawAppleEvent:withRawReply:handlerRefCon:] + 307 35 Foundation 0x7ff807a4b285 _NSAppleEventManagerGenericHandler + 80 36 AE 0x7ff80e0e4e95 0x7ff80e0da000 + 44693 37 AE 0x7ff80e0e4723 0x7ff80e0da000 + 42787 38 AE 0x7ff80e0de028 aeProcessAppleEvent + 409 39 HIToolbox 0x7ff81217b836 AEProcessAppleEvent + 55 40 AppKit 0x7ff80a39ee6a _DPSNextEvent + 1725 41 AppKit 0x7ff80adf38b8 -[NSApplication(NSEventRouting) _nextEventMatchingEventMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] + 1290 42 AppKit 0x7ff80a38faa9 -[NSApplication run] + 610 43 AppKit 0x7ff80a362d34 NSApplicationMain + 823 44 SwiftUI 0x7ff9177a7da1 0x7ff91776f000 + 232865 45 SwiftUI 0x7ff917af0d40 0x7ff91776f000 + 3677504 46 SwiftUI 0x7ff917d8fef8 0x7ff91776f000 + 6426360 47 Crescendo CryptoTokenKit 0x10b1baf6e static HostApp.$main() + 30 48 Crescendo CryptoTokenKit 0x10b1bd2f9 main + 9 (HostApp.swift:24) 49 dyld 0x7ff8065c82cd start + 1805

Hi everyone, I’ve been working on storing keys and passwords in the macOS Keychain using the Keychain Services API. Specifically, I’m leveraging SecAccessControlCreateWithFlags to bind items to access control flags, and overall, it’s been working smoothly. I have a question regarding the .applicationPassword flag of SecAccessControlCreateWithFlags. While it successfully prompts the user to input a password, there are no apparent password rules, even a simple “1” is accepted. My questions are: Is there a way to enforce strong password requirements when using the .applicationPassword flag? If enforcing strong passwords isn’t possible, is there an alternative approach to provide a predefined strong password during the creation process, bypassing the need for user input? With SecAccessControlCreateWithFlags, I noticed the item isn’t stored in the traditional file-based Keychain but in an iOS-style Keychain, is there a way to store it in a file-based Keychain while marking it as unexportable? I appreciate any insights or suggestions. Thank you! Neil

Hi, I am creating a custom login window, so I am using SFAuthorizationpluginView, here I want to hide Submit Arrow botton which gets displayed beside username and password text feild , is there a way to hide this, please suggest.

Why are we doing this nonsense? We want to be able to run builds in a sandbox such that they can only see the paths they are intended to depend on, to improve reproducibility. With builds with a very large number of dependencies, there's a very large number of paths added to the sandbox, and it breaks things inside libsandbox. Either it hits some sandbox length limit (sandbox-exec: pattern serialization length 66460 exceeds maximum (65535), Nix issue #4119, worked around: Nix PR 12570), or it hits an assert (this report; also Nix issue #2311). The other options for sandboxing on macOS are not viable; we acknowledge sandbox-exec and sandbox_init_with_parameters are deprecated; App Sandbox is inapplicable because we aren't an app. Our use case is closer to a browser, and all the browsers use libsandbox internally. We could possibly use SystemExtension or a particularly diabolical use of Virtualization.framework, but the former API requires notarization which is close to a no-go for our use case as open source software: it is nearly impossible to develop the software on one's own computer, and it would require us to ship a binary blob (and have the build processes to produce one in infrastructure completely dissimilar to what we use today); it also requires a bunch of engineering time. Today, we can pretend that code signing/notarization doesn't exist and that we are writing an old-school Unix daemon, because we are one. The latter is absolutely diabolical and hard to implement. See this saga about the bug we are facing: Nix issue #4119, Nix issue #2311, etc. What is going wrong I can't attach the file fail.sb as it is too large (you can view the failing test case at Lix's gerrit, CL 2870) and run this: $ sandbox-exec -D _GLOBAL_TMP_DIR=/tmp -f fail.sb /bin/sh Assertion failed: (diff <= INSTR_JUMP_NE_MAX_LENGTH), function push_jne_instr, file serialize.c, line 240. zsh: abort sandbox-exec -D _GLOBAL_TMP_DIR=/tmp -f fail.sb /bin/sh Or a stacktrace: stacktrace.txt Credits Full credits to Jade Lovelace (Lix) for writing the above text and filing a bug. This is submitted under FB16964888

I am developing a background program that is included in the app as an extension. I would like to include logic to check the teamID and code signature validity of the program I created to ensure that it has not been tampered with. Is this possible?

Our app uses Face ID to optionally secure access to the app for device owner. This not the new 'Require Face ID' feature of iOS 18 - this is our own custom implementation that has some other related logic for authentication handling. Starting in iOS 18.3.1, starting the app results in multiple Face Id checks being fired - sometimes just a couple but sometimes many more. Curiously, this is happening even when I completely disable any code we have that prompts for Face ID. It appears to come from nowhere. This does not happen on prior iOS 18 releases so, while I might be doing something improper in the code, something specific has changed in iOS 18.3.1 to cause this issue to manifest. I'm looking for advice as to what could be occurring here, how to debug a Face Id check that appears to come from nowhere, and what, if any, workarounds exist.

Our business model is to identify Frauds using our advanced AI/ML model. However, in order to do so we need to collect many device information which seems to be ok according to https://developer.apple.com/app-store/user-privacy-and-data-use/ But it's also prohibited to generate a fingerprint, so I need more clarification here. Does it mean I can only use the data to identify that a user if either fraud or not but I cannot generate a fingerprint to identify the device? If so, I can see many SKD in the market that generates Fingerprints like https://fingerprint.com/blog/local-device-fingerprint-ios/ and https://shield.com/?

Hi everyone, We are using the App Attest API to securely transition users to our new system. As part of this, we store the Key ID of the attestation key for each user to verify their identity later. However, we’ve noticed that some users are encountering the error “DCErrorInvalidKey 3” when calling generateAssertion. Importantly, the key was previously successfully attested, and generateAssertion has worked before for these users. Our questions: Could this error be caused by an app or iOS update? Is it problematic to link an attestation key's Key ID directly to a user, or are there scenarios where the key might change or become invalid? If there’s a way to mitigate this issue or recover affected users, what best practices would you recommend? Any help or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Hello, I am using the prf extension for passkeys that is available since ios 18 and macos15. I am using a fixed, hardcoded prf input when creating or geting the credentials. After creating a passkey, i try to get the credentials and retrieve the prf output, which works great, but i am getting different prf outputs for the same credential and same prf input used in the following scenarios: Logging in directly (platform authenticator) on my macbook/iphone/ipad i get "prf output X" consistently for the 3 devices When i use my iphone/ipad to scan the qr code on my macbook (cross-platform authenticator) i get "prf output Y" consistently with both my ipad and iphone. Is this intended? Is there a way to get deterministic prf output for both platform and cross-platform auth attachements while using the same credential and prf input?

I have a sandboxed Mac app which I can grant access to a folder using an NSOpenPanel. Once it’s been granted access it can enumerate the contents of the folder just fine. If I rename the folder while the app is open and then make the app enumerate the folder’s contents again, though, it seems to have lost access. What’s the recommended way to have an app’s sandbox “track” files as they’re moved around the filesystem? (NSDocument handles this for you, from what I can tell.) I’ve managed to hack something together with a combination of Dispatch sources and security-scoped bookmarks, but it feels like there must be an easier solution …

I modified the system.login.screensaver rule in the authorization database to use "authenticate" instead of "use-login-window-ui" to display a custom authentication plugin view when the screensaver starts or the screen locks. However, I noticed an issue when the "Require Password after Display is Turned Off" setting is set to 5 minutes in lock screen settings: If I close my Mac’s lid and reopen it within 5 minutes, my authentication plugin view is displayed as expected. However, the screen is not in a locked state—the desktop remains accessible, and the black background that typically appears behind the lock screen is missing. This behavior differs from the default lock screen behavior, where the screen remains fully locked, and the desktop is hidden. Has anyone encountered this issue before? Is there a way to ensure the screen properly locks when using authenticate in the screensaver rule?

I have been trying to find a way to be able to sign some data with private key of an identity in login keychain without raising any prompts. I am able to do this with system keychain (obviously with correct permissions and checks) but not with login keychain. It always ends up asking user for their login password. Here is how the code looks, roughly, NSDictionary *query = @{ (__bridge id)kSecClass: (__bridge id)kSecClassIdentity, (__bridge id)kSecReturnRef: @YES, (__bridge id)kSecMatchLimit: (__bridge id)kSecMatchLimitAll }; CFTypeRef result = NULL; OSStatus status = SecItemCopyMatching((__bridge CFDictionaryRef)query, (CFTypeRef *)&result); NSArray *identities = ( NSArray *)result; SecIdentityRef identity = NULL; for (id _ident in identities) { // pick one as required } SecKeyRef privateKey = NULL; OSStatus status = SecIdentityCopyPrivateKey(identity, &privateKey); NSData *strData = [string dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]; unsigned char hash[CC_SHA256_DIGEST_LENGTH]; CC_SHA256(strData.bytes, (CC_LONG)strData.length, hash); NSData *digestData = [NSData dataWithBytes:hash length:CC_SHA256_DIGEST_LENGTH]; CFErrorRef cfError = NULL; NSData *signature = (__bridge_transfer NSData *)SecKeyCreateSignature(privateKey, kSecKeyAlgorithmRSASignatureDigestPKCS1v15SHA256, (__bridge CFDataRef)digestData, &cfError); Above code raises these system logs in console default 08:44:52.781024+0000 securityd client is valid, proceeding default 08:44:52.781172+0000 securityd code requirement check failed (-67050), client is not Apple-signed default 08:44:52.781233+0000 securityd displaying keychain prompt for /Applications/Demo.app(81692) If the key is in login keychain, is there any way to do SecKeyCreateSignature without raising prompts? What does client is not Apple-signed mean? PS: Identities are pre-installed either manually or via some device management solution, the application is not installing them.

I need to open p12 file from other iOS applications to import private key to my application. My app is set up to be able to open nay file with following plist <?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>CFBundleDocumentTypes</key> <array> <dict> <key>CFBundleTypeName</key> <string>Files</string> <key>LSHandlerRank</key> <string>Default</string> <key>LSItemContentTypes</key> <array> <string>public.item</string> <string>public.data</string> <string>public.content</string> </array> </dict> </array> </dict> </plist> But my don't appear in share dialog from Files or Mail app for example. There are however other third party apps that can accept this file. Some of them use Share extension which I don't have, but some of them don't have it as far as I can understand. At least they don't present any UI and open apps directly. Also I've tried to specify com.rsa.pkcs-12 UTI directly but it didn't help. Also noticed that *.crt files have similar behaviour. Am I missing something about this specific file type?

Hello Apple Developer Community, We have been experiencing a persistent notification issue in our application, Flowace, after updating to macOS 15 and above. The issue is affecting our customers but does not occur on our internal test machines. Issue Description When users share their screen using Flowace, they receive a repetitive system notification stating: "Flowace has accessed your screen and system audio XX times in the past 30 days. You can manage this in settings." This pop-up appears approximately every minute, even though screen sharing and audio access work correctly. This behavior was not present in macOS 15.1.1 or earlier versions and appears to be related to recent privacy enhancements in macOS. Impact on Users The frequent pop-ups disrupt workflows, making it difficult for users to focus while using screen-sharing features. No issues are detected in Privacy & Security Settings, where Flowace has the necessary permissions. The issue is not reproducible on our internal test machines, making troubleshooting difficult. Our application is enterprise level and works all the time, so technically this pop only comes after a period of not using the app. Request for Assistance We would like to understand: Has anyone else encountered a similar issue in macOS 15+? Is there official Apple documentation explaining this new privacy behavior? Are there any interim fixes to suppress or manage these notifications? What are Apple's prospects regarding this feature in upcoming macOS updates? A demonstration of the issue can be seen in the following video: https://youtu.be/njA6mam_Bgw Any insights, workarounds, or recommendations would be highly appreciated! Thank you in advance for your help. Best, Anuj Patil Flowace Team

Our desktop app for macos will be released in 2 channels appstore dmg package on our official website for users to download and install Now when we debug with passkey, we find that the package name of the appstore can normally arouse passkey, but the package name of the non-App Store can not arouse the passkey interface I need your help. Thank you

Hi, ASCredentialProvider had been almost identically implemented on both iOS and macOS so far, but the ProvidesTextToInsert feature was only added to iOS. It would have been a crucial point to make Credential Providers available in all textfields, without users having to rely on developers correctly setting roles for their Text Fields. It's right now impossible to paste credentials into Notes, or some other non-password text box both in web and desktop apps for example, in a seamless, OS-supported way without abusing Accessibility APIs which are understandably disallowed in Mac App Store apps. Or just pasting an SSH key, or anything. On macOS this has so many possibilities. It could even have a terminal command. It's even more interesting that "Passwords..." is an option in macOS's AutoFill context menu, just like on iOS, however Credential Providers did not gain this feature on macOS, only on iOS. Is this an upcoming feature, or should we find alternatives? Or should I file a feature request? If it's already in the works, it's pointless to file it.

Hi everyone, I'm looking for a way to configure Passkey on iOS so that authentication is only possible using FaceID or TouchID. Specifically, I want to disable the use of passcodes and QR codes for authentication. Additionally, is there a method to detect if the authentication was done using a passcode or QR code? Thanks for your help!

Hi everyone, I am trying to use ASWebAuthenticationSession to authorize user using OAuth2. Service Webcredentials is set. /.well-known/apple-app-site-association file is set. When using API for iOS > 17.4 using new init with callback: .https(...) everything works as expected, however i cannot make .init(url: ,callbackURLScheme: ....) to work. How can i intercept callback using iOS <17.4? Do I really need to use universal links? callbackURL = https://mydomain.com/auth/callback

Like many/most developers, I gave Connect the info required to comply with the DSA. Perhaps unlike most, I always give unique email addresses so that I can easily track the source of abuse. Yesterday I finally had a phish come in to my DSA address claiming "Message blocked" and doing the standard click-to-login-for-details FOMO bait. So, yep, DSA just becomes yet another public database that malicious actors can use to target you. It would be really nice if Apple provided a way to supply our contact info only for legitimate business purposes. Mail Privacy Protection (or similar) for this would be a start.

I want to use incrementalUpdates for my app but store always returns false on my iPad with OS18.3.2. I want to know what are th conditions in which store says its unable to perform incrementalUpdates?