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
Prioritize user privacy and data security in your app. Discuss best practices for data handling, user consent, and security measures to protect user information.
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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
Hi everyone,
I’m working an Objective-C lib that performs Keychain operations, such as generating cryptographic keys and signing data. The lib will be used by my team in a Java program for macOS via JNI.
When working with the traditional file-based Keychain (i.e., without access control flags), everything works smoothly, no issues at all.
However, as soon as I try to generate a key using access control flags SecAccessControlCreateWithFlags, the Data Protection Keychain returns error -34018 (errSecMissingEntitlement) during SecKeyCreateRandomKey. This behavior is expected.
To address this, I attempted to codesign my native dynamic library (.dylib) with an entitlement plist specifying various combinations of:
keychain-access-groups
com.apple.security.keychain
etc.
with:
My Apple Development certificate
Developer ID Application certificate
Apple Distribution certificate
None of these combinations made a difference, the error persists.
I’d love to clarify:
Is it supported to access Data Protection Keychain / Secure Enclave Keys in this type of use case?
If so, what exact entitlements does macOS expect when calling SecKeyCreateRandomKey from a native library?
I’d really appreciate any guidance or clarification. Thanks in advance!
Best regards,
Neil
I have a custom NSWindow that I want to exclude from screen capture by setting its sharing state to kCGWindowSharingStateSharingNone. The goal is to prevent this window from appearing in the content captured by ScreenCaptureKit.
[window setSharingType:NSWindowSharingType::NSWindowSharingNone];
However, on macOS 15.4+ (Sequoia), the window is still captured by ScreenCaptureKit and appears in the shared content.
Does anyone know if kCGWindowSharingStateSharingNone is still effective with ScreenCaptureKit on macOS 15.4 and later?
Hi,
I was testing the lockdown mode in iOS 16 and would like to know whether we can detect the lockdown mode status using any public API that Apple provides.
I really appreciate any help you can provide.
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.
Is there a way to unlock login keychain without using password and with any other authentication factor supported by 3rd party MFA options?
Hello Experts,
I am in need of your help with this feedback from the App Reviewer.
Issue Description: One or more purpose strings in the app do not sufficiently explain the use of protected resources. Purpose strings must clearly and completely describe the app's use of data and, in most cases, provide an example of how the data will be used.
Next Steps: Update the location purpose string to explain how the app will use the requested information and provide a specific example of how the data will be used. See the attached screenshot.
Resources: Purpose strings must clearly describe how an app uses the ability, data, or resource. The following are hypothetical examples of unclear purpose strings that would not pass review:
"App would like to access your Contacts"
"App needs microphone access"
Feedback #2
"Regarding 5.1.1, we understand why your app needs access to location. However, the permission request alert does not sufficiently explain this to your users before accessing the location.
To resolve this issue, it would be appropriate to revise the location permission request, specify why your app needs access, and provide an example of how your app will use the user's data.
To learn more about purpose string requirements, watch a video from App Review with tips for writing clear purpose strings. We look forward to reviewing your app once the appropriate changes have been made."
May I know how can I update my purpose string? I appealed on the first feedback by explaining what is the purpose of it but got the Feedback #2.
TYIA!!
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
Topic:
Privacy & Security
SubTopic:
General
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 …
Hello,
I have an application which uses a helper[1] to download[2] files. When files download is a DMG and user mounts the image to run the application from this DMG it doesn't pass Gatekeeper. It presents the "Application XYZ.app can't be opened.".
Same file downloaded via Safari shows a different dialog, the "XYZ.app is an app downloaded from the internet. Are you sure you want to open it?"
In the system log I see this line:
exec of /Volumes/SampleApp/SampleApp.app/Contents/MacOS/SampleApp denied since it was quarantined by Download\x20Helper and created without user consent, qtn-flags was 0x00000187
The application is running sandboxed and hardened, the main application has com.apple.security.files.downloads.read-write entitlement. Everything is signed by DeveloperID and passes all checks[3].
I tried to check the responsible process[4] of the helper. Then trivial stuff like download folder access in System Settings/Privacy & Security/Files & Folders. Everything seems to be fine.
For what it worths the value of quarantine attribute is following:
com.apple.quarantine: 0087;6723b80e;My App;
The Safari downloaded one posses:
com.apple.quarantine: 0083;6723b9fa;Safari;02162070-2561-42BE-B30B-19A0E94FE7CA
Also tried a few more ways and got to 0081 with Edge and 0082 with a sample app with similar setup. Not sure if that has any meaning.
What could I be doing wrong that Gatekeeper right away refuses to run the application from DMG instead of showing the dialog like in other cases?
[1] The executable is in application bundle located in Contents/Helpers/DownloadHelper.app in the main application bundle.
[2] Nothing fancy, curl + regular POSIX file operations
[3] codesign, syspolicy_check, spctl
[4] launchctl procinfo pid
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 *)&amp;result);
NSArray *identities = ( NSArray *)result;
SecIdentityRef identity = NULL;
for (id _ident in identities) {
// pick one as required
}
SecKeyRef privateKey = NULL;
OSStatus status = SecIdentityCopyPrivateKey(identity, &amp;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,
&amp;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?
I am getting the following errors. The app used to work and now does not, even without any code changes. Any thoughts on resolving this issue?
Authorization failed: Error Domain=AKAuthenticationError Code=-7026 "(null)" Us erInfo={AKClientBundleID=<bundleid>}
LaunchServices: store (null) or url (null) was nil: Error Domain=NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-54 "process may not map database" Us erInfo={NSDebugDescription=process may not map database, _LSLine=72, _LSFunction=_LSServer_GetServerStoreForConnectionWithCompletionHandler}
Attempt to map database failed: permission was denied. This attempt will not be retried.
Failed to initialize client context with error Error Domain=NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-54 "process may not map database" Us erInfo={NSDebugDescription=process may not map database, _LSLine=72, _LSFunction=_LSServer_GetServerStoreForConnectionWithCompletionHandler}
Failed to get application extension record: Error Domain=NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-54 "(null)"
ASAuthorizationController credential request failed with error: Error Domain=com.apple.AuthenticationServices.AuthorizationError Code=1000 "(null)"
I am writing a MacOS app that uses the Apple crypto libraries to create, save, and use an RSA key pair. I am not using a Secure Enclave so that the private key can later the retrieved through the keychain. The problem I am running into is that on my and multiple other systems the creation and retrieval works fine. On a different system -- running MacOS 15.3 just like the working systems -- the SecKeyCreateRandomKey function appears to work fine and I get a key reference back, but on subsequent runs SecItemCopyMatching results in errSecItemNotFound. Why would it appear to save properly on some systems and not others?
var error: Unmanaged<CFError>?
let access = SecAccessControlCreateWithFlags(kCFAllocatorDefault,
kSecAttrAccessibleWhenUnlockedThisDeviceOnly,
.biometryAny,
&error)!
let tag = TAG.data(using: .utf8)! // com.example.myapp.rsakey
let attributes: [String: Any] = [
kSecAttrKeyType as String: KEY_TYPE, // set to kSecAttrKeyTypeRSA
kSecAttrKeySizeInBits as String: 3072,
kSecPrivateKeyAttrs as String: [
kSecAttrIsPermanent as String: true,
kSecAttrApplicationTag as String: tag,
kSecAttrAccessControl as String: access,
],
]
guard let newKey = SecKeyCreateRandomKey(attributes as CFDictionary, &error) else {
throw error!.takeRetainedValue() as Error
}
return newKey
This runs fine on both systems, getting a valid key reference that I can use. But then if I immediately try to pull the key, it works on my system but not the other.
let query = [ kSecClass as String: kSecClassKey,
kSecAttrApplicationTag as String: tag,
kSecReturnRef as String: true, ]
var item: CFTypeRef?
let status = SecItemCopyMatching(query as CFDictionary, &item)
let msg = SecCopyErrorMessageString(status, nil)
if status == errSecItemNotFound {
print("key not found")
}
guard status == errSecSuccess else { print("other retrieval error") }
return item as! SecKey
I've also tried a separate query using the secCall function from here (https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/710961) that gets ALL kSecClassKey items before and after the "create the key" function and it'll report the same amount of keys before and after on the bugged system. On the other machines where it works, it'll show one more key as expected.
In the Signing & Capabilities section of the project config, I have Keychain Sharing set up with a group like com.example.myapp where my key uses a tag like com.example.myapp.rsakey. The entitlements file has an associated entry for Keychain Access Groups with value $(AppIdentifierPrefix)com.example.myapp.
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
Topic:
Privacy & Security
SubTopic:
General
Tags:
Bundle ID
macOS
Passkeys in iCloud Keychain
Authentication Services
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