questions about EndpointSecurity & System Extension

Question

weichao119 OP

Created Nov ’19

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Hi,

We have some questions about the EndpointSecurity Frameworks.

1. Whether the EndpointSecurity Client must be a system extension?

We use the es-client entitlements making a develop provisonprofile with its EndpointSecurity-client capabilities. Then, build a simple app(no system extension) with EndpointSecurity.Framework and the provisonprofile. It works well on other machine which SIP is enabled. (Root permission & approved by TCC )

So, whether it means that we can distribute the EndpointSecurity-Client as a simple app(without system extension)?

2. If we must package Endpoint Security as a system extension, and be contained in an app. Whether the containing app can be distributed in Mac App Store?

Answered by DTS Engineer in 402187022

right now NetworkExtension system extensions have the opposite problem, where you can’t deploy them via Developer ID

I have some good news on that front. It should now be possible to ship Developer ID signed NetworkExtension system extensions. Yay!

To get this working, you have to use a new set of NE entitlement values. For example, a Mac App Store transparent proxy uses the

app-proxy-provider

value, while a Developer ID product should use

app-proxy-provider-systemextension

. The full list of these is documented on the

com.apple.developer.networking.networkextension

entitlement page.

Note These entitlement values are understood by macOS 10.15 and later.

If you have an existing development signed NE sysex project, here’s how to change it over:

On the developer web site, create two new App IDs, one for the container app and one for the system extension embedded within that container.
Add the Network Extension capability to both App IDs.
Add the System Extension capability to the app’s App ID.
Add any other capabilities you need.
Create Developer ID profiles for both of these.
Download and import those profiles into Xcode.
In Xcode, configure your app and sysex targets to use manual code signing.
Then select the appropriate profile for each target.
Change the bundle IDs to match your new App IDs. This will require additional changes in your code, for example:
- The product name of your system extension
- Your code that sets the
```
providerBundleIdentifier
```
  property.
It’s best to do a search for the old bundle ID in order to make sure you got everything.
For both the app and the sysex, change your
```
.entitlements
```
file to use the new sysex variant of the entitlement. For example, if you’re creating a transparent proxy, you’d change
```
app-proxy-provider
```
to
```
app-proxy-provider-systemextension
```
.
Note Xcode has not yet been updated to display a nice string for these (r. 58567937).
Build your app.
Install and test on a macOS 10.15 with SIP disabled.
Note You only need to have SIP disabled if your app isn’t notarised. When you deploy to users, you notarise your app and that lifts the SIP requirement.

I just went through this process here in my office and it seems to work.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!”
Apple Developer Relations, Developer Technical Support, Core OS/Hardware

let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@apple.com"

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