We have an application which is written in Swift, which activates Transparent Proxy network extension. Our Transparent Proxy module is a system extension, which is exposing an app proxy provider interface (We are using NETransparentProxyProvider class and in extension’s Info.plist we use com.apple.networkextension.app-proxy key.) Sometimes we have observed that on starting the transparent proxy extension, the startProxy overridden delegate method(override func startProxy(options: [String : Any]?, completionHandler: @escaping (Error?) -> Void) {) in our AppProxyProvider class which is derived from NETransparentProxyProvider being called more than once for the same extension(pid). This leads to Over-resume of an object crash as we invoke setTunnelNetworkSettings inside the startProxy delegate. As this is controlled by the system, we are not sure why this delegate being called more than once sometimes even if we call the start TransparentProxy only once. Note that, this issue is seen only in Mac OS Tahoe. Apple Feedback ticket: FB21464147 (startProxy delegate for NETransparentProxyProvider class is being called twice for the same pid extension sometimes)

Hi everyone, Has anyone seen notarization behave like this? We have one specific app (let’s call it App A) with a Network Extension system extension. Whenever we submit App A for notarization: • Its submission stays “In Progress” indefinitely • The provisioning profile for its system extension becomes Invalid on its own • All our other apps suddenly fail notarization • And the whole team immediately gets: StatusCode 7000 – “Team is not yet configured for notarization.” Apple Support restored notarization once(Case 102738171569), and we confirmed other apps notarize fine — until we submit App A again, which instantly triggers the same team-wide block. This cycle has repeated twice. We verified: • Hardened runtime • Proper system extension signing • No private API usage • No get-task-allow • No ATS violations What’s confusing is that this doesn’t look like a normal notarization rejection. Normal failures don’t invalidate provisioning profiles or disable notarization for the entire team. It feels more like an automated security heuristic or misclassification. My questions: 1. Can a single app or system extension trigger an automated team-wide notarization disable? 2. Can an entitlement or NE configuration issue cause StatusCode 7000 instead of a standard rejection? 3. If this could be a false positive, is there a specific team at Apple who can manually review/clear it? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Hi all, I have a working macOS (Intel) system extension app that currently uses only a Content Filter (NEFilterDataProvider). I need to capture/log HTTP and HTTPS traffic in plain text, and I understand NETransparentProxyProvider is the right extension type for that. For HTTPS I will need TLS inspection / a MITM proxy — I’m new to that and unsure how complex it will be. For DNS data (in plain text), can I use the same extension, or do I need a separate extension type such as NEPacketTunnelProvider, NEFilterPacketProvider, or NEDNSProxyProvider? Current architecture: Two Xcode targets: MainApp and a SystemExtension target. The SystemExtension target contains multiple network extension types. MainApp ↔ SystemExtension communicate via a bidirectional NSXPC connection. I can already enable two extensions (Content Filter and TransparentProxy). With the NETransparentProxy, I still need to implement HTTPS capture. Questions I’d appreciate help with: Can NETransparentProxy capture the DNS fields I need (dns_hostname, dns_query_type, dns_response_code, dns_answer_number, etc.), or do I need an additional extension type to capture DNS in plain text? If a separate extension is required, is it possible or problematic to include that extension type (Packet Tunnel / DNS Proxy / etc.) in the same SystemExtension Xcode target as the TransparentProxy? Any recommended resources or guidance on TLS inspection / MITM proxy setup for capturing HTTPS logs? There are multiple DNS transport types — am I correct that capturing DNS over UDP (port 53) is not necessarily sufficient? Which DNS types should I plan to handle? I’ve read that TransparentProxy and other extension types (e.g., Packet Tunnel) cannot coexist in the same Xcode target. Is that true? Best approach for delivering logs from multiple extensions to the main app (is it feasible)? Or what’s the best way to capture logs so an external/independent process (or C/C++ daemon) can consume them? Required data to capture (not limited to): All HTTP/HTTPS (request, body, URL, response, etc.) DNS fields: dns_hostname, dns_query_type, dns_response_code, dns_answer_number, and other DNS data — all in plain text. I’ve read various resources but remain unclear which extension(s) to use and whether multiple extension types can be combined in one Xcode target. Please ask if you need more details. Thank you.

Hi everyone, I’m developing an Electron application on macOS and I’m trying to register and activate a macOS System Extension, but I’m running into startup and entitlement issues. 🔧 What I’m trying to build • An Electron app packaged with electron-builder • Signed with Developer ID Application • Notarized using @electron/notarize • A macOS System Extension is already built and signed • The System Extension provides a virtual camera • I wrote a Swift helper that: • Registers / activates the virtual camera • Calls OSSystemExtensionManager • This Swift code is compiled into a .node native addon • The .node module is loaded and called from Electron (Node.js) to trigger system extension registration ❗ The problem When I add the following entitlement: com.apple.developer.system-extension.install the application fails to launch at all on macOS. Without this entitlement: • The app launches normally • But system extension activation fails with: Error Domain=OSSystemExtensionErrorDomain Code=2 Missing entitlement com.apple.developer.system-extension.install With this entitlement: • The app does not launch • No UI is shown • macOS blocks execution silently 🤔 My questions 1. Is it valid for an Electron app’s main executable to have com.apple.developer.system-extension.install? 2. Does Apple require a separate helper / launcher app to install system extensions instead of the Electron main app? 3. Are there any Electron-specific limitations when working with macOS System Extensions? 4. Is there a known working example of Electron + macOS System Extension? 5. Do I need a specific provisioning profile or App ID capability beyond Developer ID + notarization?

This is just an FYI in case someone else runs into this problem. This afternoon (12 Dec 2025), I updated to macOS 26.2 and lost my network. The System Settings' Wi-Fi light was green and said it was connected, but traceroute showed "No route to host". I turned Wi-Fi on & off. I rebooted the Mac. I rebooted the eero network. I switched to tethering to my iPhone. I switched to physical ethernet cable. Nothing worked. Then I remembered I had a beta of an app with a network system extension that was distributed through TestFlight. I deleted the app, and networking came right back. I had this same problem ~2 years ago. Same story: app with network system extension + TestFlight + macOS update = lost network. (My TestFlight build might have expired, but I'm not certain) I don't know if anyone else has had this problem, but I thought I'd share this in case it helps.

NEAppProxyUDPFlow contains below property: open var localEndpoint: NWEndpoint? { get } Why is localEndpoint not available for NEAppProxyTCPFlow? Is there a way to determine the source port of a flow of type NEAppProxyTCPFlow within the following method of NETransparentProxyProvider? override func handleNewFlow(_ flow: NEAppProxyFlow) -> Bool {

I'm currently observing a problem similar to this thread https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/737334 The difference is that this is happening after updating a system extension. Basically same error, sysextd complains it can not check that the system extension is notarized: macOS Error 3 + Error code=-67050. I think macOS (Sequoia 15.3.2 or 15.7.2 if it matters) is wrong in this case for the following reasons: when using spctl assess -t install, the system extension is reported to be correctly notarized. when restarting the Mac, the updated system extension is correctly checked and staged. if I run spctl assess before sysextd tries to check the system extension, it works. I'm currently thinking of 2 reasons why the check does not work: sysextd is somehow trying to work with a cached assessment that has become invalid after the system extension was updated. macOS needs way more time between the update of the files and the request to update the staged extension. I tried adding a 5-second delay. This does not seem to work or at least reliably. I tried just touching the system extension, no positive result. Unfortunately, in macOS Sequoia, it is not possible anymore to reset-default using spctl and see if it solves the issue, at least the next time the update is performed. [Q] Is there some magic operation that would help macOS correctly check the notarization of an updated system extension?

Hi Team, I have a Network Extension application and UI frontend for it. The UI frontend talks to the Network Extension using XPC, as provided by NEMachServiceName. On M2 machine, The application and XPC connection works fine on clean installation. But, when the application is upgraded, the XPC connection keeps failing. Upgrade steps: PreInstall script kills the running processes, both UI and Network Extension Let installation continue PostInstall script to launch the application after installation complete. Following code is successful to the point of resume from UI application NSXPCInterface *exportedInterface = [NSXPCInterface interfaceWithProtocol:@protocol(IPCUIObject)]; newConnection.exportedInterface = exportedInterface; newConnection.exportedObject = delegate; NSXPCInterface *remoteObjectInterface = [NSXPCInterface interfaceWithProtocol:@protocol(IPCExtObject)]; newConnection.remoteObjectInterface = remoteObjectInterface; self.currentConnection = newConnection; [newConnection resume]; But it fails to get the object id<IPCExtObject> providerProxy = [self.currentConnection remoteObjectProxyWithErrorHandler:^(NSError *registerError) { }]; Please note, this only fails for M2. For M1, this exact code is running fine. Additionally, if I uninstall the application by dropping it in Trash and then installing the newer version, then too, the application works fine.

I’m using an NETransparentProxyProvider where I add UDP-53 rules to intercept DNS queries from a private application. These queries are resolved locally on the endpoint by returning a custom DNS response. Example Rules look like this: NENetworkRule(destinationHost: NWHostEndpoint(hostname: "mypaapp.com", port: 53),protocol:.UDP) This works as expected through browser and ping. handleNewUDPFlow/handleNewFlow with NEAppProxyUDPFlow gets called where custom dns response get written. Using nslookup mypaapp.com doesn't works. Why does this behaves differently for nslookup?

Description: We are investigating an issue where running a specific e-commerce iOS app inside the Xcode Simulator intermittently disrupts the Mac’s network connectivity. When the app is launched in the Simulator, our NETransparentProxyProvider and NEFilterDataProvider extensions occasionally stop receiving traffic correctly, and shortly afterward the entire macOS DNS resolution fails. Once this happens, all apps on the Mac lose internet access until mac is restarted. Disabling extensions also fixing the issue. This issue only appears when the app runs in the Xcode Simulator. I would like to confirm: Is it possible for traffic patterns or network behavior inside the Simulator to interfere with system-level Network Extension providers on macOS? Are there known limitations or conflicts between the Simulator’s virtual networking interfaces and Network Extensions? Any recommended debugging steps or best practices to isolate this behavior? Any guidance, known issues, or suggestions would be appreciated.

First time working with DEXT, so I'm trying to make "Communicating between a DriverKit extension and a client app" sample project to work and I'm having trouble. I'm following the steps for "Automatically manage signing". It seems that the step “Sign to Run Locally” is wrong now, so I let it to Apple Developer. Now I have a Provisioning Profile error that says it doesn't include the com.apple.developer.driverkit.allow-any-userclient-access entitlement. If I go to Certificates, Identifiers and Profiles for this AppID and go to Capability Requests and select DriverKit Allow Any UserClient Access, this bring me to a page where I select DriverKit Entitlement but Any UserClient Access is not a choice. I tried asking for UserClient Access but the request has been denied saying that the engineering team does not think these entitlements are necessary for testing locally. So I removed com.apple.developer.driverkit.allow-any-userclient-access from NullDriver.entitlements. I can now install the DEXT but when I try "Communicate with Dext" button, I received the error: Failed opening connection to dext with error: 0xe00002e2. Looking in the console, I see this error message: DK: NullDriverUserClient-0x10000ad6a:UC failed userclient-access check, needed bundle ID com.example.apple-samplecode.dext-to-user-client-2-TEST.driver I tried many things, but I can't seem to be able to pass through the check to allow the application to communicate with the dext. What am I missing? Note that I'm focusing only on macOS, not iOS. Thanks.

We're distributing a virtual camera with our app that does not profit in the slightest from automatically applied system video effects both to the video going in (physical camera device) or out (virtual camera device). I'm aware of setting NSCameraReactionEffectGesturesEnabledDefault in Info.plist and determining active video effects via AVCaptureDevice API. Those are obviously crutches, because having to tell users to go look for and click around in menu bar apps is the opposite of a great UX. To make our product's video output more deterministic, I'm looking for a way to tell the CMIO subsystem that our virtual camera does not support any of the system video effects. I'm seeing properties like AVCaptureDevice.Format.isPortraitEffectSupported and AVCaptureDevice.Format.isStudioLightSupported whose documentation refers to the format's ability to support these effects. Since we're setting a CMFormatDescription via CMIOExtensionStreamSource.formats I was hoping to find something in the extensions, but wasn't successful so far. Can this be done?

We have a content filter system extension as part of our macOS app. The filter normally works correctly, activation and deactivation works as expected but occasionally we see an issue when the content filter is activated. When this issues occurs, the filter activation appears to behave correctly, no errors are reported. Using "systemextensionsctl list" we see the filter is labelled as "[activated enabled]". However, the installed content filter executable does not run. We have seen this issue on macOS 15.3 and later and on the beta macOS 26.1 RC. It happens only occasionally but when it does there is no indication as to why the executable is not running. There are no crash logs or errors in launchd logs. Both rebooting and deactivating/activating the filter do not resolve the issue. The only fix appears to be completely uninstalling the app (including content filter) and reinstalling. I have raised a FB ticket, FB20866080. Does anyone have any idea what could cause this?

Hi, when I perform an overlay installation via a PKG on macOS for an application containing the NEFilterDataProvider functionality, there is a chance that the entire system network becomes unreachable. Disabling the corresponding Content Filter in "System Settings > Network > Filters" immediately restores network connectivity. This issue does not occur every time, with a frequency of approximately 1 in 20 installation attempts.  The following details may help identify the problem: The Filter.app containing the NEFilterDataProvider resides within the main app's Resources directory, e.g., /Applications/Main.app/Contents/Resources/Filter.app Main.app is installed via a PKG; the issue typically occurs during an overlay installation of Main.app. The NEFilterDataProvider operates as a System Extension. The func handleNewFlow(_ flow: NEFilterFlow) -> NEFilterNewFlowVerdict {} returns .allow. Wireshark packet captures show TCP packets but no UDP packets; TCP handshakes cannot complete. Disabling the corresponding content filter in "System Settings > Network > Filters" restores the network; re-enabling it breaks connectivity again. After waiting for a period, approximately 30-60 minutes, network connectivity can recover automatically. What causes this and how can it be fixed? Any workarounds?

Hello, I’ve run into some strange behavior with the macOS System Extension using a Packet Tunnel. The issue showed up after the device went to sleep while the VPN was running. When I woke the computer, the VPN tried to reconnect but never succeeded — it just stayed stuck in the “connecting” state. I was able to turn the VPN off, but every attempt to turn it back on failed and got stuck at “connecting” again. Even removing the VPN configuration from Settings didn’t help. The only thing that worked was disabling the system extension completely. While checking the logs, I noticed thousands of identical log messages appearing within just a few seconds: nesessionmanager(562) deny(1) system-fsctl (_IO "h" 47) 17:11:52.481498+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: got On Demand start message from pid 5454 com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.481568+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: got On Demand start message from pid 5454 com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.481580+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: got On Demand start message from pid 5454 com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.481587+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: got On Demand start message from pid 5454 com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.481646+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: got On Demand start message from pid 5446 com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.481664+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: got On Demand start message from pid 5446 com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.481671+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: got On Demand start message from pid 5446 com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.481676+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: got On Demand start message from pid 5446 com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.481682+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: got On Demand start message from pid 5446 com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.481687+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: got On Demand start message from pid 5446 com.apple.networkextension After the burst of these repeated messages, I started seeing logs like the following: 17:11:52.481759+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: Received a start command from Spotify Helper[69038] com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.481790+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: Skip a start command from Spotify Helper[69038]: session in state connecting com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.481949+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: Received a start command from Spotify Helper[69038] com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.481966+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: Skip a start command from Spotify Helper[69038]: session in state connecting com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.481986+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: Received a start command from Spotify Helper[69038] com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.481992+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: Skip a start command from Spotify Helper[69038]: session in state connecting com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.482003+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: Received a start command from Spotify Helper[69038] com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.482011+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: Skip a start command from Spotify Helper[69038]: session in state connecting com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.482022+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: Received a start command from Spotify Helper[69038] com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.482028+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: Skip a start command from Spotify Helper[69038]: session in state connecting com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.482039+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: Received a start command from Spotify Helper[69038] com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.482049+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: Skip a start command from Spotify Helper[69038]: session in state connecting com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.482060+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: Received a start command from Slack Helper[84828] com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.482069+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: Skip a start command from Slack Helper[84828]: session in state connecting com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.482079+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: Received a start command from sharingd[764] com.apple.networkextension 17:11:52.482086+0200 NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:Secure DNS: Skip a start command from sharingd[764]: session in state connecting com.apple.networkextension It is clear that the connection is in a loop of submitting request to start and then failing. This problem occured only after sleep on macOS 26.0 and 15.6. This issue only occured after the system woke up from sleep. macOS 15.6 and 26.0. Is this a known problem, and how should I go about troubleshooting or resolving it?

Hi team, We need to identify the domains used by macOS Software Update so they can be bypassed by our NETransparentProxy. The Apple support article below lists Software Update and several other Apple service domains. At the moment we’re unsure whether we should only bypass the Software Update and Beta Software domains, or whether we also need to bypass domains used for certificate validation, device management (Apple Business Manager / Apple School Manager / Apple Business Essentials), network provider updates, Apple Diagnostics, etc. We also need the specific IP ranges used exclusively by Software Update. The document shows Apple’s entire IP range; for IPv4 you can allow outbound connections to 17.0.0.0/8. https://support.apple.com/en-in/101555

We have an application which is written in Swift, which activates Transparent Proxy network extension. Our Transparent Proxy module is a system extension, which is exposing an app proxy provider interface (We are using NETransparentProxyProvider class and in extension’s Info.plist we use com.apple.networkextension.app-proxy key.) We are using JAMF MDM profile for installing our transparent proxy in customer environment. We are using VPN payload(https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicemanagement/vpn) for this network system extension. This payload does not have any field for order. As per https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicemanagement/vpn/transparentproxy-data.dictionary documentation there is another payload for TransparentProxy and we could create a Transparent Proxy profile using iMazingProfile Editor. Noticed that, if we add the Order attribute to the VPN/TransparentProxy payload, while installing the extension, the save to preferences fails with "Error in saving TP configuration in updateOnDemandRule permission denied" error. Can we use this Order field to ordering the installed Transparent Proxy extension in a machine? Customer devices will likely have other Transparent Proxy network extensions as well. We want to allow the Customer to control the order in which each Transparent Proxy network extension receives the network traffic. How can we set the order of the Transparent proxy extension that can be deployed using MDM profile with VPN/TransparentProxy payload? Attached the TransparentProxy payload profile for the reference. DGWebProxy_TransparentProxy_iMazing

I've implemented a custom VPN system extension for macOS, utilizing Packet Tunnel Provider. One of the users reported a problem: he was connected to the VPN, and then his Mac entered sleep mode. Upon waking, the VPN is supposed to connect automatically (because of the on-demand rules). The VPN's status changed to 'connecting', but it remained stuck in this status. From my extension logs, I can see that the 'startTunnelWithOption()' function was called 2 minutes after the user clicked the 'connect' button. From the system logs, I noticed some 'suspicious' logs, but I can't be sure if they are related to the problem. Some of them are: kernel: (Sandbox) Sandbox: nesessionmanager(562) deny(1) system-fsctl (_IO "h" 47) entitlement com.apple.developer.endpoint-security.client not present or not true (I don't need this entitlement at the extension) nesessionmanager: [com.apple.networkextension:] NESMVPNSession[Primary Tunnel:XXXXXX(null)]: Skip a start command from YYYYY:session in state connecting NetworkExtension.com.***: RunningBoard doesn't recognize submitted process - treating as a anonymous process sysextd: activateDecision found existing entry of same version: state activated_enabled, ID FAE... Are any of the logs related to the above problem? How can I debug such issues? What info should I get from the user?

We're encountering an issue with our Network Extension (utilizing NEPacketTunnelProvider and NETransparentProxy) on macOS 14.5 (23F79). On some systems, the VPN fails to automatically start after a reboot despite calling startVPNTunnel(). There are no error messages. Our code attempts to start the tunnel: ....... do { try manager.connection.startVPNTunnel() Logger.default("Started tunnel successfully") } catch { Logger.error("Failed to launch tunnel") } ...... System log analysis reveals the tunnel stopping due to userLogout (NEProviderStopReason(rawValue: 12)) during reboot. However, the Transparent Proxy stops due to userInitiated (NEProviderStopReason(rawValue: 1)) for the same reboot. We need to understand: Why the VPNTunnel isn't starting automatically. Why the userLogout reason is triggered during reboot. Additional Context: We have manually started the VPN from System Settings before reboot.

I have recently restarted an old code base. The app uses App Groups to communicate with network and endpoint system extensions. For some reason, in Xcode > Target > Signing & Capabilities the app groups are showing up with red text. I feel the red signifies a problem, but I cannot figure out what it is. The app compiles and runs, but I feel there is problem that I am missing. Any idea why App Group names would be displayed in red?