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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Integrating CryptoTokenKit with productsign
Hi all, I'm using a CryptoTokenKit (CTK) extension to perform code signing without having the private key stored on my laptop. The extension currently only supports the rsaSignatureDigestPKCS1v15SHA256 algorithm: func tokenSession(_ session: TKTokenSession, supports operation: TKTokenOperation, keyObjectID: TKToken.ObjectID, algorithm: TKTokenKeyAlgorithm) -> Bool { return algorithm.isAlgorithm(SecKeyAlgorithm.rsaSignatureDigestPKCS1v15SHA256) } This setup works perfectly with codesign, and signing completes without any issues. However, when I try to use productsign, the system correctly detects and delegates signing to my CTK extension, but it seems to always request rsaSignatureDigestPKCS1v15SHA1 instead: productsign --timestamp --sign <identity> unsigned.pkg signed.pkg productsign: using timestamp authority for signature productsign: signing product with identity "Developer ID Installer: <org> (<team>)" from keychain (null) ... Error Domain=NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-50 "algid:sign:RSA:digest-PKCS1v15:SHA1: algorithm not supported by the key" ... productsign: error: Failed to sign the product. From what I understand, older versions of macOS used SHA1 for code signing, but codesign has since moved to SHA256 (at least when legacy compatibility isn't a concern). Oddly, productsign still seems to default to SHA1, even in 2025. Is there a known way to force productsign to use SHA256 instead of SHA1 for the signature digest algorithm? Or is there some flag or configuration I'm missing? Thanks in advance!
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542
Jun ’25
Verify the Password using the AuthorizationCopyRights
Hi everyone, I’m working on building a passwordless login system on macOS using the NameAndPassword module. As part of the implementation, I’m verifying if the password provided by the user is correct before passing it to the macOS login window. Here’s the code snippet I’m using for authentication: // Create Authorization reference AuthorizationRef authorization = NULL; // Define Authorization items AuthorizationItem items[2]; items[0].name = kAuthorizationEnvironmentPassword; items[0].value = (void *)password; items[0].valueLength = (password != NULL) ? strlen(password) : 0; items[0].flags = 0; items[1].name = kAuthorizationEnvironmentUsername; items[1].value = (void *)userName; items[1].valueLength = (userName != NULL) ? strlen(userName) : 0; items[1].flags = 0; // Prepare AuthorizationRights and AuthorizationEnvironment AuthorizationRights rights = {2, items}; AuthorizationEnvironment environment = {2, items}; // Create the authorization reference [Logger debug:@"Authorization creation start"]; OSStatus createStatus = AuthorizationCreate(NULL, &amp;environment, kAuthorizationFlagDefaults, &amp;authorization); if (createStatus != errAuthorizationSuccess) { [Logger debug:@"Authorization creation failed"]; return false; } // Set authorization flags (disable interaction) AuthorizationFlags flags = kAuthorizationFlagDefaults | kAuthorizationFlagExtendRights; // Attempt to copy rights OSStatus status = AuthorizationCopyRights(authorization, &amp;rights, &amp;environment, flags, NULL); // Free the authorization reference if (authorization) { AuthorizationFree(authorization, kAuthorizationFlagDefaults); } // Log the result and return if (status == errAuthorizationSuccess) { [Logger debug:@"Authentication passed"]; return true; } else { [Logger debug:@"Authentication failed"]; return false; } } This implementation works perfectly when the password is correct. However, if the password is incorrect, it tries to re-call the macOS login window, which is already open. even i though i did not used the kAuthorizationFlagInteractionAllowed flag. This causes the process to get stuck and makes it impossible to proceed. I’ve tried logging the flow to debug where things go wrong, but I haven’t been able to figure out how to stop the system from re-calling the login window. Does anyone know how to prevent this looping behavior or gracefully handle an incorrect password in this scenario? I’d appreciate any advice or suggestions to resolve this issue. Thanks in advance for your help!
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828
Dec ’24
How to reset user preference for crypto token kit access
When an app is trying to access identities put in the keychain by cryptotokenkit extension, the user gets asked a permission pop-up which reads 'Token Access Request" would like access a token provided by: " with 2 options 'Don't allow' and 'OK' I accidently clicked "Don't allow" and now can't access identities put in crypto token kit. How can I reset the preference?
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768
Dec ’24
Local Authentication & localized reason string
In a project I was using Local Authentication to authenticate a user. When I got a request to support smartcard/PIV token authentication (which Local Authentication does not support), I had to switch to Authorization Services, which works pretty. There's only one issue I have. Local Authentication's evaluatePolicy:localizedReason:reply: requires a reason in the form "&lt;appname&gt;" is trying to &lt;localized reason&gt;. The app is currently translated into 41 languages and I would like to use the localized strings for the AuthorizationEnvironment of Authorization Services as well. The problem is that Local Authentication prefixes the localized string with something like "&lt;appname&gt;" is trying to and Authorization Services does not do this. Is there a way to get this prefix from somewhere so I can manually add it to the (partially) localized string? Any help would be highly appreciated. Thank you, Marc
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825
Feb ’25
Enhanced Security Capability < iOS 26
Hi, After enabling the new Enhanced Security capability in Xcode 26, I’m seeing install failures on devices running < iOS 26. Deployment target: iOS 15.0 Capability: Enhanced Security (added via Signing & Capabilities tab) Building to iOS 18 device error - Unable to Install ...Please ensure sure that your app is signed by a valid provisioning profile. It works fine on iOS 26 devices. I’d like to confirm Apple’s intent here: Is this capability formally supported only on iOS 26 and later, and therefore incompatible with earlier OS versions? Or should older systems ignore the entitlement, meaning this behavior might be a bug?
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I'm trying to use a keychain-access-group and failing
This is on macOS, not iOS. Not sure if that should make a difference? I have a GUI app and a command line tool (that will run a daemon) that I need to share credentials between. The keys/certs will be stored using the GUI app. But, both tools need to utilize them. guard let accessControl = SecAccessControlCreateWithFlags( nil, kSecAttrAccessibleWhenPasscodeSetThisDeviceOnly, [.privateKeyUsage], nil ) else { throw KeychainCertError.keychainError(errSecAuthFailed, "Failed to create access control for private key") } // Define Key Pair Attributes let privateKeyAttributes: [String: Any] = [ kSecAttrIsPermanent as String: true, kSecAttrApplicationTag as String: privateLabel.data(using: .utf8)!, kSecAttrLabel as String: privateLabel, // kSecAttrAccessControl as String: accessControl, kSecAttrAccessGroup as String: keychainAccessGroup ] With the kSecAttrAccessControl commented out, I am able to generate a private key and generate a self signed certificate that is stored on the user login keychain. If I uncomment that line, I get an error to the affect of "Keychain error (-26275): Failed to generate key pair: A required entitlement isn't present" Also, to share the credentials, don't they need to be NOT on the user keychain for the daemon to access them? Any ideas what I am doing wrong? I think I'm a bit over my head here with the the security, crypto kit and openssl. 😁
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459
Mar ’25
Error when using SecItemAdd with kSecReturnPersistentRef and user presence kSecAttrAccessControl
I'm trying to add a generic password to the keychain and get back the persistent ID for it, and give it .userPresence access control. Unfortunately, if I include that, I get paramError back from SecItemAdd. Here's the code: @discardableResult func set(username: String, hostname: String?, password: String, comment: String? = nil) throws -> PasswordEntry { // Delete any existing matching password… if let existing = try? getEntry(forUsername: username, hostname: hostname) { try deletePassword(withID: existing.id) } // Store the new password… var label = username if let hostname { label = label + "@" + hostname } var item: [String: Any] = [ kSecClass as String : kSecClassGenericPassword, kSecAttrDescription as String : "TermPass Password", kSecAttrGeneric as String : self.bundleID.data(using: .utf8)!, kSecAttrLabel as String : label, kSecAttrAccount as String : username, kSecValueData as String : password.data(using: .utf8)!, kSecReturnData as String : true, kSecReturnPersistentRef as String: true, ] if self.synchronizable { item[kSecAttrSynchronizable as String] = kCFBooleanTrue! } if let hostname { item[kSecAttrService as String] = hostname } if let comment { item[kSecAttrComment as String] = comment } // Apply access control to require the user to prove presence when // retrieving this password… var error: Unmanaged<CFError>? guard let accessControl = SecAccessControlCreateWithFlags(nil, kSecAttrAccessibleWhenUnlockedThisDeviceOnly, .userPresence, &error) else { let cfError = error!.takeUnretainedValue() as Error throw cfError } item[kSecAttrAccessControl as String] = accessControl item[kSecAttrAccessible as String] = kSecAttrAccessibleWhenUnlockedThisDeviceOnly var result: AnyObject! let status = SecItemAdd(item as CFDictionary, &result) try Errors.throwIfError(osstatus: status) load() guard let secItem = result as? [String : Any], let persistentRef = secItem[kSecValuePersistentRef as String] as? Data else { throw Errors.malformedItem } let entry = PasswordEntry(id: persistentRef, username: username, hostname: hostname, password: password, comment: comment) return entry } (Note that I also tried it omitting kSecAttrAccessible, but it had no effect.) This code works fine if I omit setting kSecAttrAccessControl. Any ideas? TIA!
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142
Jul ’25
Keychain is not getting opened after unlock when system.login.screensaver is updated to use authenticate-session-owner-or-admin
When we enable 3rd party authentication plugin using SFAuthorization window, then when user performs Lock Screen and then unlock the MAC. Now after unlock, if user tries to open Keychain Access, it is not getting opened. When trying to open Keychain Access, we are prompted for credentials but after providing the credentials Keychians are not getting opened. This is working on Sonoma 14.6.1 , but seeing this issue from macOS Sequoia onwards. Are there any suggested settings/actions to resolve this issue?
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Aug ’25
App Attest Suddenly Failing in Production — Error 4 (serverUnavailable)
Hi Apple Team and Community, We've encountered a sudden and widespread failure with the App Attest service starting today across multiple production apps and regions. The previously working implementation is now consistently returning the following error on iOS: The operation couldn’t be completed. (com.apple.devicecheck.error error 4.) (serverUnavailable) Despite the green status on Apple’s System Status page, this appears to be a backend issue—possibly infrastructure or DNS-related. Notably: The issue affects multiple apps. It is reproducible across different geographies. No code changes were made recently to the attestation logic. We previously reported a similar concern in this thread: App Attest Attestation Failing, but this new occurrence seems unrelated to any client-side cause. Update: An Apple engineer in this thread(https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/782987) confirmed that the issue was due to a temporary DNS problem and has now been resolved. Can anyone else confirm seeing this today? Any insights from Apple would be appreciated to ensure continued stability. Thanks!
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Jun ’25
Maintaining access to a folder across renames
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 …
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135
Apr ’25
Device unable to download the AASA file when using a domain name with special characters
Hello, I have a fully functional webauthn relying party that uses passkeys and I am trying to implement an iOS sdk for it. On the server, the AASA file is valid and well served at /.well-known/assetlinks.json. I verified its validity with branch.io and that it is indeed cached by Apple's CDN (https://app-site-association.cdn-apple.com/a/v1/service.domain.com), but even will all these I still get the following error when installing the app on a device and starting the passkey ceremony: Passkey authorization failed. Error: The operation couldn’t be completed. Application with identifier TEAM.com.APP is not associated with domain service.domain.com So I then checked the system log when installing the app on my iPhone, and under the swcd process (which is apparently responsible of fetching the AASA file) I found the following error: swcd: Domain is invalid. Will not attempt a download. The issue that I have is that my domain is actually an IDN, it has a special character in it. But everywhere I have used it, I converted it to ASCII (punycode). With this conversion, Apple's CDN is able to fetch the AASA file, and the passkey ceremony works fine on a browser. So I don't understand how the device (both iPhone or Mac) finds this domain to be invalid? In the app's entitlements, I added the capability for an associated domain, with webcredentials:service.domain.com with the domain name converted to ASCII (punycode) and developer mode doesn't address this issue as it appears when the app is installed (and is not related to Apple's CDN). The last thing I tried was to add the domain with special characters in the app's entitlements (for webcredentials:) but then Xcode was unable to install the app on the device, and gave the following error: Failed to verify code signature (A valid provisioning profile for this executable was not found.) which happened only with a special character in the domain in the app's entitlements. All this leaves me kind of in a dead end, I understand Xcode or iOS/macOS has a hard time with IDNs and special characters (so do I), but I have no idea on how to solve this (without changing the domain name), so I would really appreciate any help. Thanks in advance. PS: I tested all this previously with another domain without special characters and it was working. It also had dashes ('-') in it and the new domain converted to ASCII is basically a regular domain with '-' in it so I suppose there is some kind of conversion made from ASCII back to special characters and that then, the domain is considered as invalid, but this doesn't really help me a lot... PS2: My devices are running on iOS 17.4.1 and macOS 14.4.1 with Xcode 15.2
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Mar ’25
Entropy generation using Apple corecrypto non-physical entropy source
Hi, We are using the following API from sys/random.h to generate entropy in our module. int getentropy(void* buffer, size_t size); Could you confirm if this API internally uses a non-physical entropy source and adhere to SP800-90B as the following document says: https://csrc.nist.gov/CSRC/media/projects/cryptographic-module-validation-program/documents/entropy/E181_PublicUse.pdf
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338
Feb ’25
DisableFDEAutoLogin and SFAuthorizationPluginView
Hi, I have a set of plugins which are registered for login. One of them is a custom ui view for the login screen. The scenario: 1.DisableFDEAutoLogin is false. 2.The User logs in to the file vault login screen. 3.The security plugins are activated, and working. 4.We get any kind of an error from the plugins, and therefore the login fails. 5.We get a native login screen, after the denial of authorization. 6.In case that DisableFDEAutoLogin is true, I do get the custom login screen, after the file vault login. My question: Why dont I see the custom login screen, after the auto login fails? Cheers Sivan
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722
Sep ’25
Securely passing credentials from Installer plug-in to newly installed agent — how to authenticate the caller?
I’m using a custom Installer plug-in (InstallerPane) to collect sensitive user input (username/password) during install. After the payload is laid down, I need to send those values to a newly installed agent (LaunchAgent) to persist them. What I tried I expose an XPC Mach service from the agent and have the plug-in call it. On the agent side I validate the XPC client using the audit token → SecCodeCopyGuestWithAttributes → SecCodeCheckValidity. However, the client process is InstallerRemotePluginService-* (Apple’s view service that hosts all plug-ins), so the signature I see is Apple’s, not mine. I can’t distinguish which plug-in made the call. Any suggestion on better approach ?
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1.5k
Oct ’25
Accessing PIV Smart Card Certificates from iPadOS application.
I am new to swift development, and it's possible that I'm missing something fundamental/obvious. If so, I apologize in advance. My team is developing an application for iPadOS using SwiftUI, and I'm trying to accomplish something similar to what the original inquirer is asking for in this thread: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/725152. The only difference is that I'm trying to use a PIV smart card to achieve authentication to a server rather than digitally sign a document. Unfortunately, I'm getting stuck when attempting to run the list() function provided in the accepted answer to the post mentioned above. When attempting to call SecItemCopyMatching(), I'm getting a -34018 missing entitlement error. I've attempted to add the com.apple.token to my app's keychain-access-groups entitlements, but this does not resolve the issue. I have checked the entitlements in my built app, per the recommendation in the troubleshooting guide here: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/114456. The entitlement for com.apple.token is indeed present in the plist. Based on other documentation I've read, however, it seems that the explicit declaration of com.apple.token should not even be required in the entitlements. Is there something obvious that I'm missing here that would prevent my app from accessing the token access group?
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204
Jul ’25
Java remote debugging stymied by connection refused on local network
I am trying to setup remote Java debugging between two machines running macOS (15.6 and 26). I am able to get the Java program to listen on a socket. However, I can connect to that socket only from the same machine, not from another machine on my local network. I use nc to test the connection. It reports Connection refused when trying to connect from the other machine. This issue sounds like it could be caused by the Java program lacking Local Network system permission. I am familiar with that issue arising when a program attempts to connect to a port on the local network. In that case, a dialog is displayed and System Settings can be used to grant Local Network permission to the client program. I don't know whether the same permission is required on the program that is receiving client requests. If it is, then I don't know how to grant that permission. There is no dialog, and System Settings does not provide any obvious way to grant permission to a program that I specify. Note that a Java application is a program run by the java command, not a bundled application. The java command contains a hard-wired Info.plist which, annoyingly, requests permission to use the microphone, but not Local Network access.
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384
Aug ’25
Intermittent Failures Launching App from Universal Links using ASWebAuthenticationSession
I'm developing an iOS app that utilizes Universal Links and ASWebAuthenticationSession to deep-link from a website to the app itself. This implementation adheres to the recommendations outlined in RFC 8252, ensuring that the app opening the ASWebAuthenticationSession is the same app that is launched via the Universal Link. Problem:  While most users can successfully launch the app via Universal Links,a few percent of users experience instances where the app fails to launch, and the user is redirected to the browser. What I've Tried:  ASWebAuthenticationSession Configuration: I've double-checked the configuration of callbackURLScheme and presentationContextProvider.  Universal Links: Verified the apple-app-site-association file and associated domains entitlement.  Network Conditions: Tested on various network environments (Wi-Fi, cellular) and devices. Questions:  What are the potential causes for this behavior?  Has anyone else encountered a similar issue and found a solution?  Are there any debugging techniques or ways to generate more detailed logs? I haven't been able to determine which device or OS version is causing this problem. Thank you.
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1.1k
Apr ’25