For security reasons, my application needs to prohibit external devices. If it is determined that the current phone is connected to any external devices, including non MFI authenticated devices, the app will exit. Please tell me how to do it? Thanks for your help.

Hi All, I have a finder sync extension that passes data back to my main app. It currently writes to a plist file in my group container folder. Since updating to macOS 15, I have been getting this pop-up every time I trigger this writing to the plist after the finder sync extension loads. This is how I write to the plist from my finder sync extension: let appGroupDefaults = UserDefaults(suiteName: "group.team_id.Finder-Sync-Extension-Test-Project") let items = FIFinderSyncController.default().selectedItemURLs() DispatchQueue.main.async { let url = items?.first?.absoluteString var file = items?.first?.lastPathComponent if let defaults = appGroupDefaults{ defaults.set(url, forKey: "targetURL") defaults.synchronize() } self.showWindow(with: NSExtensionContext()) } This is how I read the plist from my main app: if let defaults = UserDefaults(suiteName: "group.team_id.Finder-Sync-Extension-Test-Project") { defaults.synchronize() if let clickedUrl = defaults.string(forKey: "targetURL") { window = NSWindow(contentRect: NSScreen.main?.frame ?? .zero, styleMask: [.miniaturizable, .closable, .resizable, .titled], backing: .buffered, defer: false) window?.title = "My App" window?.makeKeyAndOrderFront(nil) textField.stringValue = clickedUrl window?.contentView?.addSubview(textField) } } It is fine if this popup happens once and the user's choice gets remembered. I just don't want it to happen every time. Any help on if this is the correct way to pass data between the finder sync extension and the main app or on how to get macOS to remember the choice of the user would be great. Thanks, James

Is there a way to unlock login keychain without using password and with any other authentication factor supported by 3rd party MFA options?

We are working with an iOS app where we have enabled the “Generate Debug Symbols” setting to true in Xcode. As a result, the .dSYM files are generated and utilized in Firebase Crashlytics for crash reporting. However, we received a note in our Vulnerability Assessment report indicating a potential security concern. The report mentions that the .ipa file could be reverse-engineered due to the presence of debug symbols, and that such symbols should not be included in a released app. We could not find any security-related information about this flag, “Generate Debug Symbols,” in Apple’s documentation. Could you please clarify if enabling the “Generate Debug Symbols” flag in Xcode for a production app creates any security vulnerabilities, such as the one described in the report? The report mentions the following vulnerability: TEST-0219: Testing for Debugging Symbols The concern raised is that debugging symbols, while useful for crash symbolication, may be leveraged to reverse-engineer the app and should not be present in a production release. Your prompt confirmation on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Hi, I develop a Mac application, initially on Catalina/Xcode12, but I recently upgrade to Monterey/Xcode13. I'm about to publish a new version: on Monterey all works as expected, but when I try the app on Sequoia, as a last step before uploading to the App Store, I encountered some weird security issues: The main symptom is that it's no longer possible to save any file from the app using the Save panel, although the User Select File entitlement is set to Read/Write. I've tried reinstalling different versions of the app, including the most recent downloaded from TestFlight. But, whatever the version, any try to save using the panel (e.g. on the desktop) results in a warning telling that I don't have authorization to record the file to that folder. Moreover, when I type spctl -a -t exec -v /Applications/***.app in the terminal, it returns rejected, even when the application has been installed by TestFlight. An EtreCheck report tells that my app is not signed, while codesign -dv /Applications/***.app returns a valid signature. I'm lost... It suspect a Gate Keeper problem, but I cannot found any info on the web about how this system could be reset. I tried sudo spctl --reset-default, but it returns This operation is no longer supported... I wonder if these symptoms depend on how the app is archived and could be propagated to my final users, or just related to a corrupted install of Sequoia on my local machine. My feeling is that a signature problem should have been detected by the archive validation, but how could we be sure? Any idea would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

In one of our applications we use LAContext's evaluatePolicy:localizedReason:reply: to authenticate a user. This works pretty well with both username/password and Touch ID. Now we have a request to add support for smart cards and I wonder if this is possible using LAContext. Otherwise I would use Authentication Services, although that might be a bit overkill since we don't need to request any rights, we just want to see that the user has been successfully authenticated. Or is there a better way? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Marc

I'm working on a Password Manager app that integrates with the AutoFill Credential Provider to provide stored passwords and OTPs to the user within Safari and other apps. Password AutoFill works perfectly. I'm unable to get iOS to register that the app supports OTPs though. I've followed the Apple documentation here: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/authenticationservices/providing-one-time-passcodes-to-autofill and added "ProvidesOneTimeCodes" to the AutoFill extension's Info.plist, but iOS just doesn't seem to notice the OTP support. <key>ASCredentialProviderExtensionCapabilities</key> <dict> <key>ProvidesOneTimeCodes</key> <true/> <key>ProvidesPasswords</key> <true/> </dict> Any help would be greatly appreicated!

I am developing a custom authorization plugin for macOS, and I’ve encountered an issue where the auth plugin view remains visible on the home screen for a few seconds after login. Issue Details: After entering valid credentials, I call setResult(.allow) in my plugin to proceed with login. The authentication succeeds, and macOS starts transitioning to the home screen. However, for a few seconds after login, the authorization plugin view is still visible on the home screen before it disappears. I have observed this issue even when using Apple's sample authorization plugin. Observation: This issue occurs without an external monitor (on a single built-in display). If I manually close the plugin window inside Destroy(AuthPlugin.mechanism), then the auth plugin views do not appear on the home screen, which seems to fix the issue. However, when I do this, a gray screen appears for about a second before the desktop environment fully loads. I suspect that the gray screen appears due to the time macOS takes to fully load the home screen environment after login. Questions: Why does the authorization plugin view persist on the home screen for a few seconds after login? Is manually closing the plugin window in Destroy(AuthPlugin.mechanism) the correct way to prevent this, or is there a better approach? Is my assumption that the gray screen appears due to the home screen not being fully loaded correct? If the gray screen is caused by home screen loading, is there a system notification or event I can listen to in order to know when the home screen has fully loaded?

Hello, I have encountered several challenges related to System Integrity Protection (SIP) state detection and code signing requirements. I would like to seek clarification and guidance on the proper approach to programmatically determine the SIP state. Here are the issues I’ve encountered: XPC Code Signing Check APIs: APIs like setCodeSigningRequirement and setConnectionCodeSigningRequirement do not work when SIP disabled and that's ok given what SIP is. LaunchCodeRequirement API: When using Process.launchRequirement, the LaunchCodeRequirement API does not function anymore when SIP disabled. The IsSIPProtected requirement behaves in a way that is not clearly documented -- it appears to only apply to pre-installed Apple apps. Legacy APIs: Older APIs like SecCodeCheckValidity are likely to be non-functional, though I haven’t had the chance to validate this yet. Private API Concerns: So to mitigate those limitations I prefer my app to not even try to connect to untrusted XPC or launch untrusted Processes when SIP is disabled. The only way to determine SIP state I could find is a low-level C function csr_get_active_config. However, this function is not declared in any publicly available header file, indicating that it is a private API. Since private APIs cannot be used in App Store-distributed apps and are best avoided for Developer ID-signed apps, this does not seem like a viable solution. Given these limitations, what is the recommended and proper approach to programmatically determine the SIP state in a macOS application? Any insights or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hi there, I'm trying to use SFAuthorizationPluginView in order to show some fields in the login screen, have the user click the arrow, then continue to show more fields as a second step of authentication. How can I accomplish this? Register multiple SecurityAgentPlugins each with their own mechanism and nib? Some how get MacOS to call my SFAuthorizationPluginView::view() and return a new view? Manually remove text boxes and put in new ones when button is pressed I don't believe 1 works, for the second mechanism ended up calling the first mechanism's view's view() Cheers, -Ken

Hi, We came accross with 2 devices, iPhone 12 and iphone16 pro. the both have same device code. Both the devices have same apple id and belongs to same user I had understanding that device codes are unique to device. How this can happen? Any remediation? Thanks, Veena

Can you please give me a hand with importing certificates under MacOS? I want to connect to Wi-Fi with 802.1X authentication (EAP-TLS) using a certificate that my homebrew application imported into my data protection keychain, but the imported certificate does not show up and I cannot select the certificate. It also does not show up in the Keychain Access app. One method I have tried is to import it into the data protection keychain by using the SecItemAdd function and setting kSecUseDataProtectionKeychain to true, but it does not work. Is there a better way to do this? ID: for id in identities { let identityParams: [String: Any] = [ kSecValueRef as String: id, kSecReturnPersistentRef as String: true, kSecUseDataProtectionKeychain as String: true ] let addIdentityStatus = SecItemAdd(identityParams as CFDictionary, nil) if addIdentityStatus == errSecSuccess { print("Successfully added the ID.: \(addIdentityStatus)") } else { print("Failed to add the ID.: \(addIdentityStatus)") } } Certificate: for cert in certificates { let certParams: [String: Any] = [ kSecValueRef as String: cert, kSecReturnPersistentRef as String: true, kSecUseDataProtectionKeychain as String: true ] let addCertStatus = SecItemAdd(certParams as CFDictionary, nil) if addCertStatus == errSecSuccess { print("Successfully added the certificate.: (\(addCertStatus))") } else { print("Failed to add the certificate.: (\(addCertStatus))") } } Private key: for privateKey in keys { let keyTag = UUID().uuidString.data(using: .utf8)! let keyParams: [String: Any] = [ kSecAttrApplicationTag as String: keyTag, kSecValueRef as String: privateKey, kSecReturnPersistentRef as String: true, kSecUseDataProtectionKeychain as String: true ] let addKeyStatus = SecItemAdd(keyParams as CFDictionary, nil) if addKeyStatus == errSecSuccess { print("Successfully added the private key.: \(addKeyStatus)") } else { print("Failed to add the private key.: \(addKeyStatus)") } }

We have a macOS app that has a Photos Extension, which shares documents with the app via an app group container. Historically we used to have an iOS-style group identifier (group.${TeamIdentifier}${groupName}), because we were lead by the web interface in the developer portal to believe this to be the right way to name groups. Later with the first macOS 15 betas last year there was a bug with the operating system warning users, our app would access data from different apps, but it was our own app group container directory. Therefore we added a macOS-style group identifier (${TeamIdentifier}${groupName}) and wrote a migration of documents to the new group container directory. So basically we need to have access to these two app group containers for the foreseeable future. Now with the introduction of iOS-style group identifiers for macOS, Xcode Cloud no longer archives our app for TestFlight or AppStore, because it complains: ITMS-90286: Invalid code signing entitlements - Your application bundle’s signature contains code signing entitlements that aren’t supported on macOS. Specifically, the “[group.${TeamIdentifier}${groupName}, ${TeamIdentifier}${groupName}]” value for the com.apple.security.application-groups key in isn’t supported. This value should be a string or an array of strings, where each string is the “group” value or your Team ID, followed by a dot (“.”), followed by the group name. If you're using the “group” prefix, verify that the provisioning profile used to sign the app contains the com.apple.security.application-groups entitlement and its associated value(s). We have included the iOS-style group identifier in the provisioning profile, generated automatically, but can't do the same for the macOS-style group identifier, because the web interface only accepts identifiers starting with "group". How can we get Xcode Cloud to archive our app again using both group identifiers? Thanks in advance

I requested permission to use the Family Controls entitlement two weeks ago, and I have not received a response or status update. I have been to that page where it says "Thank you! We'll get back to you soon!" so many times.

Hello, I'm seeking some clarification regarding the use of accessibility and input monitoring APIs in sandboxed apps that are distributed through the App Store. I understand that accessibility permissions are generally restricted for App Store apps. However, I've seen several recently released apps request these permissions directly upon first launch. I'm aware that apps submitted prior to 2012 may have legacy access to certain APIs, but the ones I'm referring to appear to be recent - within the past year. While it's possible these apps were approved despite the restrictions, I want to make sure I'm not overlooking something. I also came across a recent discussion on this topic, and one post in particular stood out: Link I’d really appreciate some clarification on what's officially allowed. Specifically: Are accessibility permissions ever allowed? If so, under what circumstances? Is input monitoring permitted for apps on the App Store? (The referenced post says yes, but since it's from 2022, I just want to confirm) The linked post suggests that event generation might be allowed on the App Store, though the author hadn’t explored that privilege in detail and recommended opening a DTS tech support incident. I’ve done that and have a support case open - would it be possible to take a closer look at this? For context, my app (currently distributed outside the App Store) uses CGEventPost and CGEventCreateMouseEvent to modify mouse behavior. Thank you

Hi, We use the iOS Keychain in our mobile app to securely store and retrieve data, which is tightly coupled with the initialization of some app features within the application. This issue is encountered during app launch We retrieve during Splash Screen UI controller at viewDidApper() The logic we use to access the Keychain is as follows: NSDate *NSDate_CD; NSString *account = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:@"SOME_KEY_ACCOUNT"]; NSString *attrgen = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:@"SOME_KEY"]; NSMutableDictionary *query = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init]; [query setObject:(__bridge id)(kSecClassGenericPassword) forKey:(__bridge id<NSCopying>)(kSecClass)]; [query setObject:attrgen forKey:(__bridge id<NSCopying>)(kSecAttrGeneric)]; [query setObject:(__bridge id)(kSecAttrAccessibleAfterFirstUnlockThisDeviceOnly) forKey:(__bridge id<NSCopying>)(kSecAttrAccessible)]; [query setObject: [NSBundle mainBundle].bundleIdentifier forKey:(__bridge id<NSCopying>)(kSecAttrService)]; [query setObject:account forKey:(__bridge id<NSCopying>)(kSecAttrAccount)]; [query setObject:@YES forKey:(__bridge id<NSCopying>)(kSecReturnAttributes)]; [query setObject:@YES forKey:(__bridge id<NSCopying>)(kSecReturnData)]; CFDictionaryRef valueAttributes = NULL; OSStatus status = SecItemCopyMatching((__bridge CFDictionaryRef)query, (CFTypeRef *)&valueAttributes); NSDictionary *attributes = (__bridge_transfer NSDictionary *)valueAttributes; if(status==errSecSuccess) { NSDate_CD = [attributes objectForKey:(__bridge id)kSecAttrCreationDate]; } else { NSLog(@"Key chain query failed"); } However, some users have reported intermittent failures during app launch. Upon investigation, we discovered that these failures are caused by exceptions thrown by the iOS Keychain, which the app is currently not handling. Unfortunately, we do not log the exception or the Keychain error code in the app logs at the moment, but we plan to implement this logging feature in the near future. For now, we are trying to better understand the nature of these errors. Could you help clarify the following Keychain errors, which might be encountered from the code above? errSecServiceNotAvailable (-25307) errSecAllocate (-108) errSecNotAvailable (-25291) If these errors are encountered, are they typically persistent or are they temporary states that could resolve on their own? Your insights would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Having trouble decrypting a string using an encryption key and an IV. var key: String var iv: String func decryptData(_ encryptedText: String) -> String? { if let textData = Data(base64Encoded: iv + encryptedText) { do { let sealedBox = try AES.GCM.SealedBox(combined: textData) let key = SymmetricKey(data: key.data(using: .utf8)!) let decryptedData = try AES.GCM.open(sealedBox, using: key) return String(data: decryptedData, encoding: .utf8) } catch { print("Decryption failed: \(error)") return nil } } return nil } Proper coding choices aside (I'm just trying anything at this point,) the main problem is opening the SealedBox. If I go to an online decryption site, I can paste in my encrypted text, the encryption key, and the IV as plain text and I can encrypt and decrypt just fine. But I can't seem to get the right combo in my Swift code. I don't have a "tag" even though I'm using the combined option. How can I make this work when all I will be receiving is the encrypted text, the encryption key, and the IV. (the encryption key is 256 bits) Try an AES site with a key of 32 digits and an IV of 16 digits and text of your choice. Use the encrypted version of the text and then the key and IV in my code and you'll see the problem. I can make the SealedBox but I can't open it to get the decrypted data. So I'm not combining the right things the right way. Anyone notice the problem?

Hi everyone, I’m working on an iOS app that uses biometric authentication to access secure keychain items and private keys stored in the Secure Enclave with some data encryption/decryption with those keys. My goal is to minimize the number of biometric prompts by reusing the authentication result within a short time window. I have the following setup: When writing the biometry-restricted keychain items and Secure Enclave keys, I use LAContext with the property LATouchIDAuthenticationMaximumAllowableReuseDuration = 1 minute, and I pass this context as the kSecUseAuthenticationContext field in the query. When retrieving these items later (in a synchronous sequence upon app launch), I pass the same instance of LAContext as the kSecUseAuthenticationContext field. The issue: If I unlock my device and the biometric reuse time has not expired (i.e., less than 1 minute), the first two actions (keychain item retrieval and Secure Enclave key retrieval) do not prompt for Face ID. However, when I attempt to decrypt data with the private key using SecKeyCreateDecryptedData, I’m prompted for Face ID even if the biometric reuse time is still valid. If the biometric reuse time has expired (more than 1 minute since last authentication), I get prompted for Face ID on the first action (keychain retrieval), and subsequent actions (including data decryption) reuse that biometric result. Question: Does this behavior mean that SecKeyCreateDecryptedData ignore the LATouchIDAuthenticationMaximumAllowableReuseDuration property of LAContext, causing an additional biometric prompt during decryption with the private key? Or is there another reason for this behavior? Is there a way to make the biometric result reusable across all these actions, including decryption? Thank you!

A client asked why we can't detect other apps installed on a device without an MDM profile, we explained this isn't possible due to privacy and security restrictions on iOS. A regular app cannot find other apps that are installed unless part of the same group. The client then told us to download SpyBuster (on the App Store) which somehow is collecting a list of Bundle IDs or names of all installed apps somehow. We were skeptical, but sure enough, the app showed us a list of apps we had installed. How is it doing this?!?! No MDM profile associated with the app. No special permissions requested. No access to anything shown in privacy & security in settings. Is there a special entitlement we're not aware of? Just seems like they must be using a private API call to get this info but that would of course mean it should be pulled from the App Store. We'd love to have this capability in our apps if it's legit and accepted by App Store review. Thanks!

Hi, I am working on a react native module used for tis connection and I am trying to implement the possibility to use a custom certificate/Private key. I have already implemented on android but on iOS I am getting hard times, we cannot find lots of resources, api is different on macOS and iOS with subtle differences so after having tested SO, chatgpt, ... I am trying here: I even tried to use an internal api since it seems ffmpeg uses it but with no success. I have attached my current code because it does not fit here. to sump up after having inserted cert and private key I try to get a SecIdentityRef but it fails. I assume that it's not enough to simply add certain and private key... // Query for the identity with correct attributes NSDictionary *identityQuery = @{ (__bridge id)kSecClass: (__bridge id)kSecClassIdentity, (__bridge id)kSecMatchLimit: (__bridge id)kSecMatchLimitOne, (__bridge id)kSecReturnRef: @YES, (__bridge id)kSecReturnData: @YES, (__bridge id)kSecAttrLabel: @"My Certificate", //(__bridge id)kSecUseDataProtectionKeychain: @YES }; SecIdentityRef identity = NULL; status = SecItemCopyMatching((__bridge CFDictionaryRef)identityQuery, (CFTypeRef *)&identity); TcpSocketClient.txt SecItemCopyMatching with kSecClassIdentity fails, SecIdentityCreate return NULL... So please help and indicates what I am doing wrong and how I am supposed getting a SecIdentityRef. Thanks