Hi All,
I am building my own MDM server. It seems that in order for the MDM commands to function an MDM Push Certificate for the APNS framework. And in order to get the MDM Push Certificate from the Apple Push Certificates Portal (https://identity.apple.com/pushcert/) you need to upload your CSR usually provided and sign by the MDM Vendor of your choosing. I am familiar with this process.
But now that I am the MDM Vendor, I am not sure where to get this MDM Vendor CSR Signing Certificate.
I've already submitted a formal request via the "contact us" form. Apple's response pointed me to the documentation on Setting Up Push Notifications and the MDM Vendor CSR Signing Certificate help page (which I had already reviewed):
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicemanagement/setting-up-push-notifications-for-your-mdm-customers
https://developer.apple.com/help/account/certificates/mdm-vendor-csr-signing-certificate/
The issue is that these documents describe using the signing certificate, but not the process for obtaining it as a new, independent vendor.
So does anyone know of a portal or method of generating this “MDM Vendor Certificate”?
or maybe I'm going about this all wrong and there is a simpler way… the again, its apple, so I’m probably on the right path just beed a little direction please. (I am not sure where to get this MDM Vendor CSR Signing Certificate.)
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I've submitted my app, signed with a new Developer Id Certificate for a distribution outside of the App Store, 88 hours ago.
xcrun notarytool history ...
Shows the submission as "In Progress".
xcrun notarytool log ...
Tells me "Submission log is not yet available or submissionId does not exist".
I don't know if that's expected for an "In Progress" submission.
As far as I can tell the signing worked without problems. I'm using the Tauri toolchain, which under its hood is using notarytool.
How long can I expect this to take? If there is a problem with my submission does the status just stay on "In Progress" or do I get an error?
Thanks
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Notarization
Hi everyone,
We're experiencing a critical and persistent code signing failure (HTTP 403) after accepting the latest Apple Developer Agreement, blocking our application release.
Problem: Despite confirming the new Apple Developer Agreement is signed and active on the portal, code signing attempts return an HTTP 403 error, stating a "required agreement is missing or has expired."
Steps Taken:
Accepted new Apple Developer Agreement.
Verified active developer membership and valid certificates (good for years).
Cleared caches, restarted systems.
Confirmed Team ID, Apple ID, and provisioning profile validity.
Any help is greatly appreciated, its been stuck for more than 2 days now.
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles
Hi,
This is my first time developing for iPhone, and I believe I have encountered an unusual edge case related to user management.
Background:
I work at a very small company currently in the proof-of-concept stage of building an iOS app. We created an Apple account under the company name: Green Vibe, using our corporate email. Initially, I developed the app under the free account on my local iPhone, and everything worked smoothly.
When NFC functionality became necessary, we upgraded to a paid Apple Developer account. At that point, I enrolled as a developer under my personal name (Or Itach) while logged in with the Green Vibe Apple account. I want to emphasize that only one Apple account was created — the Green Vibe account.
The Issue:
When attempting to add NFC, I was able to create the required certificate under the name Or Itach. However, when compiling the project, Xcode prompts me to enter the login password for the user Or Itach. This is problematic because there is no Apple ID associated with that name — only the Apple Developer enrollment under Green Vibe exists.
Request:
Could you please advise on the proper way to resolve this situation? Specifically:
Should the developer enrollment be tied directly to the Green Vibe account rather than to an individual name?
How can I correctly configure the account so that Xcode no longer requires a nonexistent Apple ID password?
Thank you very much for your support and clarification.
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
General
The capability associated with "FAMILY_CONTROLS" could not be determined. Please file a bug report at https://feedbackassistant.apple.com and include the Update Signing report from the Report navigator.
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Entitlements
The problem is the following:
We create a keychain item called NotaryTool (There are multiple accounts that use Notary tool and we created it for all of them )
This is created in the following way:
$ xcrun notarytool store-credentials
This process stores your credentials securely in the Keychain. You reference these credentials later using a profile name.
Profile name:
NotaryTool
We recommend using App Store Connect API keys for authentication. If you'd like to authenticate with an Apple ID and app-specific password instead, leave this unspecified.
Path to App Store Connect API private key:
//AuthKey_ABCDEFGH.p8
App Store Connect API Key ID:
<ABCDEFGH>
App Store Connect API Issuer ID:
ABCDEF-ABCD-1234-1234-1234567
Validating your credentials...
Success. Credentials validated.
Credentials saved to Keychain.
To use them, specify `--keychain-profile "NotaryTool"`
The key is downloaded from Apple and some other IDs are provided alongside.
These should remain in the keychain for as long as the user process is running (just like any other process)
A few runs are successful when we run with the profile that was created.
After a few runs we start seeing a failure.
Now we are seeing the following issue where the keychain item just vanishes:
Error: No Keychain password item found for profile: NotaryTool\n\nRun 'notarytool store-credentials' to create another credential profile.\nError during the not process\nTue Aug 26 06:02:09 2025 Notarization failed with notarytool with exit code 17664: \nTue Aug 26 06:02:09 2025 could not upload for notarization!!!
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Notarization
I help a lot of developers with macOS trusted execution problems. For example, they might have an app being blocked by Gatekeeper, or an app that crashes on launch with a code signing error.
If you encounter a problem that’s not explained here, start a new thread with the details. Put it in the Code Signing > General subtopic and tag it with relevant tags like Gatekeeper, Code Signing, and Notarization — so that I see it.
Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"
Resolving Trusted Execution Problems
macOS supports three software distribution channels:
The user downloads an app from the App Store.
The user gets a Developer ID-signed program directly from its developer.
The user builds programs locally using Apple or third-party developer tools.
The trusted execution system aims to protect users from malicious code. It’s comprised of a number of different subsystems. For example, Gatekeeper strives to ensure that only trusted software runs on a user’s Mac, while XProtect is the platform’s built-in anti-malware technology.
Note To learn more about these technologies, see Apple Platform Security.
If you’re developing software for macOS your goal is to avoid trusted execution entanglements. You want users to install and use your product without taking any special steps. If, for example, you ship an app that’s blocked by Gatekeeper, you’re likely to lose a lot of customers, and your users’ hard-won trust.
Trusted execution problems are rare with Mac App Store apps because the Mac App Store validation process tends to catch things early. This post is primarily focused on Developer ID-signed programs.
Developers who use Xcode encounter fewer trusted execution problems because Xcode takes care of many code signing and packaging chores. If you’re not using Xcode, consider making the switch. If you can’t, consult the following for information on how to structure, sign, and package your code:
Placing content in a bundle
Embedding nonstandard code structures in a bundle
Embedding a command-line tool in a sandboxed app
Creating distribution-signed code for macOS
Packaging Mac software for distribution
Gatekeeper Basics
User-level apps on macOS implement a quarantine system for new downloads. For example, if Safari downloads a zip archive, it quarantines that archive. This involves setting the com.apple.quarantine extended attribute on the file.
Note The com.apple.quarantine extended attribute is not documented as API. If you need to add, check, or remove quarantine from a file programmatically, use the quarantinePropertiesKey property.
User-level unarchiving tools preserve quarantine. To continue the above example, if you double click the quarantined zip archive in the Finder, Archive Utility will unpack the archive and quarantine the resulting files.
If you launch a quarantined app, the system invokes Gatekeeper. Gatekeeper checks the app for problems. If it finds no problems, it asks the user to confirm the launch, just to be sure. If it finds a problem, it displays an alert to the user and prevents them from launching it. The exact wording of this alert varies depending on the specific problem, and from release to release of macOS, but it generally looks like the ones shown in Apple > Support > Safely open apps on your Mac.
The system may run Gatekeeper at other times as well. The exact circumstances under which it runs Gatekeeper is not documented and changes over time. However, running a quarantined app always invokes Gatekeeper.
Unix-y networking tools, like curl and scp, don’t quarantine the files they download. Unix-y unarchiving tools, like tar and unzip, don’t propagate quarantine to the unarchived files.
Confirm the Problem
Trusted execution problems can be tricky to reproduce:
You may encounter false negatives, that is, you have a trusted execution problem but you don’t see it during development.
You may also encounter false positives, that is, things fail on one specific Mac but otherwise work.
To avoid chasing your own tail, test your product on a fresh Mac, one that’s never seen your product before. The best way to do this is using a VM, restoring to a snapshot between runs. For a concrete example of this, see Testing a Notarised Product.
The most common cause of problems is a Gatekeeper alert saying that it’s blocked your product from running. However, that’s not the only possibility. Before going further, confirm that Gatekeeper is the problem by running your product without quarantine. That is, repeat the steps in Testing a Notarised Product except, in step 2, download your product in a way that doesn’t set quarantine. Then try launching your app. If that launch fails then Gatekeeper is not the problem, or it’s not the only problem!
Note The easiest way to download your app to your test environment without setting quarantine is curl or scp. Alternatively, use xattr to remove the com.apple.quarantine extended attribute from the download before you unpack it. For more information about the xattr tool, see the xattr man page.
Trusted execution problems come in all shapes and sizes. Later sections of this post address the most common ones. But first, let’s see if there’s an easy answer.
Run a System Policy Check
macOS has a syspolicy_check tool that can diagnose many common trusted execution issues. To check an app, run the distribution subcommand against it:
% syspolicy_check distribution MyApp.app
App passed all pre-distribution checks and is ready for distribution.
If there’s a problem, the tool prints information about that problem. For example, here’s what you’ll see if you run it against an app that’s notarised but not stapled:
% syspolicy_check distribution MyApp.app
App has failed one or more pre-distribution checks.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Notary Ticket Missing
File: MyApp.app
Severity: Fatal
Full Error: A Notarization ticket is not stapled to this application.
Type: Distribution Error
…
Note In reality, stapling isn’t always required, so this error isn’t really Fatal (r. 151446728 ). For more about that, see The Pros and Cons of Stapling forums.
And here’s what you’ll see if there’s a problem with the app’s code signature:
% syspolicy_check distribution MyApp.app
App has failed one or more pre-distribution checks.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Codesign Error
File: MyApp.app/Contents/Resources/added.txt
Severity: Fatal
Full Error: File added after outer app bundle was codesigned.
Type: Notary Error
…
The syspolicy_check isn’t perfect. There are a few issues it can’t diagnose (r. 136954554, 151446550). However, it should always be your first step because, if it does work, it’ll save you a lot of time.
Note syspolicy_check was introduced in macOS 14. If you’re seeing a problem on an older system, first check your app with syspolicy_check on macOS 14 or later.
If you can’t run the syspolicy_check tool, or it doesn’t report anything actionable, continue your investigation using the instructions in the following sections.
App Blocked by Gatekeeper
If your product is an app and it works correctly when not quarantined but is blocked by Gatekeeper when it is, you have a Gatekeeper problem. For advice on how to investigate such issues, see Resolving Gatekeeper Problems.
App Can’t Be Opened
Not all failures to launch are Gatekeeper errors. In some cases the app is just broken. For example:
The app’s executable might be missing the x bit set in its file permissions.
The app’s executable might be subtly incompatible with the current system. A classic example of this is trying to run a third-party app that contains arm64e code on systems prior to macOS 26 beta.
macOS 26 beta supports arm64e apps directly. Prior to that, third-party products (except kernel extensions) were limited to arm64, except for the purposes of testing.
The app’s executable might claim restricted entitlements that aren’t authorised by a provisioning profile.
Or the app might have some other code signing problem.
Note For more information about provisioning profiles, see TN3125 Inside Code Signing: Provisioning Profiles.
In such cases the system displays an alert saying:
The application “NoExec” can’t
be opened.
[[OK]]
Note In macOS 11 this alert was:
You do not have permission to
open the application “NoExec”.
Contact your computer or network
administrator for assistance.
[[OK]]
which was much more confusing.
A good diagnostic here is to run the app’s executable from Terminal. For example, an app with a missing x bit will fail to run like so:
% NoExec.app/Contents/MacOS/NoExec
zsh: permission denied: NoExec.app/Contents/MacOS/NoExec
And an app with unauthorised entitlements will be killed by the trusted execution system:
% OverClaim.app/Contents/MacOS/OverClaim
zsh: killed OverClaim.app/Contents/MacOS/OverClaim
In some cases running the executable from Terminal will reveal useful diagnostics. For example, if the app references a library that’s not available, the dynamic linker will print a helpful diagnostic:
% MissingLibrary.app/Contents/MacOS/MissingLibrary
dyld[88394]: Library not loaded: @rpath/CoreWaffleVarnishing.framework/Versions/A/CoreWaffleVarnishing
…
zsh: abort MissingLibrary.app/Contents/MacOS/MissingLibrary
Code Signing Crashes on Launch
A code signing crash has the following exception information:
Exception Type: EXC_CRASH (SIGKILL (Code Signature Invalid))
The most common such crash is a crash on launch. To confirm that, look at the thread backtraces:
Backtrace not available
For steps to debug this, see Resolving Code Signing Crashes on Launch.
One common cause of this problem is running App Store distribution-signed code. Don’t do that! For details on why that’s a bad idea, see Don’t Run App Store Distribution-Signed Code.
Code Signing Crashes After Launch
If your program crashes due to a code signing problem after launch, you might have encountered the issue discussed in Updating Mac Software.
Non-Code Signing Failures After Launch
The hardened runtime enables a number of security checks within a process. Some coding techniques are incompatible with the hardened runtime. If you suspect that your code is incompatible with the hardened runtime, see Resolving Hardened Runtime Incompatibilities.
App Sandbox Inheritance
If you’re creating a product with the App Sandbox enabled and it crashes with a trap within _libsecinit_appsandbox, it’s likely that you’re having App Sandbox inheritance problems. For the details, see Resolving App Sandbox Inheritance Problems.
Library Loading Problem
Most library loading problems have an obvious cause. For example, the library might not be where you expect it, or it might be built with the wrong platform or architecture. However, some library loading problems are caused by the trusted execution system. For the details, see Resolving Library Loading Problems.
Explore the System Log
If none of the above resolves your issue, look in the system log for clues as to what’s gone wrong. Some good keywords to search for include:
gk, for Gatekeeper
xprotect
syspolicy, per the syspolicyd man page
cmd, for Mach-O load command oddities
amfi, for Apple mobile file integrity, per the amfid man page
taskgated, see its taskgated man page
yara, discussed in Apple Platform Security
ProvisioningProfiles
You may be able to get more useful logging with this command:
% sudo sysctl -w security.mac.amfi.verbose_logging=1
Here’s a log command that I often use when I’m investigating a trusted execution problem and I don’t know here to start:
% log stream --predicate "sender == 'AppleMobileFileIntegrity' or sender == 'AppleSystemPolicy' or process == 'amfid' or process == 'taskgated-helper' or process == 'syspolicyd'"
For general information the system log, see Your Friend the System Log.
Revision History
2025-08-06 Added the Run a System Policy Check section, which talks about the syspolicy_check tool (finally!). Clarified the discussion of arm64e. Made other editorial changes.
2024-10-11 Added info about the security.mac.amfi.verbose_logging option. Updated some links to point to official documentation that replaces some older DevForums posts.
2024-01-12 Added a specific command to the Explore the System Log section. Change the syspolicy_check callout to reflect that macOS 14 is no longer in beta. Made minor editorial changes.
2023-06-14 Added a quick call-out to the new syspolicy_check tool.
2022-06-09 Added the Non-Code Signing Failures After Launch section.
2022-06-03 Added a link to Don’t Run App Store Distribution-Signed Code. Fixed the link to TN3125.
2022-05-20 First posted.
I am building an electron app bundled with python. My code signing was fast, but when it came to notarization, it has already taken over 6+ hours. How can I speed things up?
Hi everyone,
After I recently changed my Apple ID (iCloud) password, my Developer ID certificate stopped working for signing macOS apps.
Symptoms:
Signing fails with the Developer ID certificate that was previously working fine.
I tried re-downloading the certificate from my Apple Developer account and importing it into the Keychain, but the issue persists.
It seems that the Developer ID identity is no longer trusted or properly linked to my system since the password change.
Attempts:
Re-downloaded and installed the certificate from the developer portal.
Verified that the private key is present and linked.
Checked keychain access and code-signing identity — everything appears normal, but the signed apps are rejected or the signing process fails.
Blocking issue:
I am unable to delete or revoke the Developer ID certificate on my account (Apple Support says it's not possible).
Also, I can't create a new one due to the certificate limit.
Questions:
Is it expected for a Developer ID certificate to become invalid after changing the Apple ID password?
Is there a recommended way to refresh or restore the certificate trust on macOS?
How can I invalidate the current certificate and generate a new one if I'm stuck?
Any insights or official guidance would be really appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles
Tags:
Signing Certificates
Code Signing
Developer ID
I regularly see questions from folks who’ve run into code-signing problems with their third-party IDE. There’s a limit to how much I can help you with such problems. This post explains a simple test you can run to determine what side of that limit you’re on.
If you have any questions or comments, please put them in a new thread here on DevForums. Put it in Code Signing > General topic area and apply whatever tags make sense for your specific situation.
Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"
Investigating Third-Party IDE Code-Signing Problems
DTS doesn’t support third-party tools. If you’re using third-party tooling and encounter a code-signing problem, run this test to determine whether you should seek help from Apple or from your tool’s vendor.
IMPORTANT Some third-party tools create Xcode projects that you then build and run in Xcode. While that approach is understandable, it’s not something that DTS supports. So, the steps below make sense even if you’re already using Xcode.
To check that code-signing is working in general:
Launch Xcode.
In Xcode > Settings > Accounts, make sure you’re signed in with your developer account.
Create a new project from the app project template for your target platform. For example, if you’re targeting iOS, use the iOS > App project template.
When creating the project:
Select the appropriate team in the Team popup.
Choose a bundle ID that’s not the same as your main app’s bundle ID.
Choose whatever language and interface you want. Your language and interface choices are irrelevant to code signing.
Choose None for your testing system and storage model. This simplifies your project setup.
In the Signing & Capabilities editor, make sure that:
"Automatically manage signing” is checked.
The Team popup and Bundle Identifier fields match the value you chose in the previous step.
Select a simulator as the run destination.
Choose Product > Build. This should always work because the simulator doesn’t use code signing [1]. However, doing this step is important because it confirms that your project is working general.
Select your target device as the run destination.
Choose Product > Build.
Then Product > Run.
If you continue to have problems, that’s something that Apple folks can help you with. If this works, there’s a second diagnostic test:
Repeat steps 1 through 10 above, except this time, in step 4, choose a bundle ID that is the same as your main app’s bundle ID.
If this works then your issue is not on the Apple side of the fence, and you should escalate it via the support channel for the third-party tools you’re using.
On the other hand, if this fails, that’s something we can help you with. I recommend that you first try to fix the issue yourself. For links to relevant resources, see Code Signing Resources. You should also search the forums, because we’ve helped a lot of folks with a lot of code-signing issues over the years.
If you’re unable to resolve the issue yourself, feel free to start a thread here in the forums. Put it in Code Signing > General topic area and apply whatever tags make sense for your specific situation.
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
General
I am trying to notarize a simple app I made, but keep getting stuck on "In Progress".
The app is a MacOS app, and I'm using XCode. I've tried all the steps listed in the links below:
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/security/notarizing-macos-software-before-distribution
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/security/resolving-common-notarization-issues
I've had the same issue with another app, which got rejected after multiple hours. Never got to resolve this.
We are developing a macOS application for distribution outside the Mac App Store. This application requires additional entitlements, including Keychain access groups, Network Extension, App Groups, and Sandbox. Both the app and the network extension import a custom framework.
After creating the .app via Xcode, I ensured that a new Developer ID Application provisioning profile was generated. These profiles were then injected into the Contents folder of the .app and Plugins/.netappex as embedded.provisionprofile.
Next, .entitlements files were created with the necessary "-systemextension" entitlement for the network extension and used for code signing.
When inspecting the extracted entitlements from the .provisioningprofile as described in TN3125, everything appears correct.
Code signing flow:
codesign --force --options runtime --timestamp --sign "Developer ID Application: <team>" <.app>/Contents/Frameworks/<sdk>.framework/
codesign --force --options runtime --timestamp --sign "Developer ID Application: <team>" <.app>/Contents/PlugIns/vpn.appex/Contents/Frameworks/<sdk>.framework/Versions/A/<sdk>
codesign --force --options runtime --entitlements <vpn-plist>.entitlements --timestamp --sign "Developer ID Application: <team>" <.app>/Contents/PlugIns/vpn.appex/
codesign --force --options runtime --entitlements <app-plist>.entitlements --timestamp --sign "Developer ID Application: <team>" <.app>
The .app is then zipped with ditto -c -k --keepParent and set off for notarization, which is succesful and the .app is stapled.
After that, a .dmg or .pkg is created, which is then sent for notarization and subsequently stapled.
The problem occurs when the app is distributed to the client. Opening the extracted .app fails, as Gatekeeper refuses to launch it with the following error message:
661 debug staticCode syspolicyd Security 0x88d68d818 done serializing <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "https://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"><plist version="1.0"><dict><key>com.apple.application-identifier</key><string><teamid.bundleid></string><key>com.apple.developer.networking.networkextension</key><array><string>packet-tunnel-provider-systemextension</string></array><key>com.apple.developer.team-identifier</key><string>team-id</string><key>com.apple.security.app-sandbox</key><true/><key>com.apple.security.application-groups</key><array><string>teamid.group.appgroup</string></array><key>com.apple.security.files.user-selected.read-write</key><true/><key>com.apple.security.network.client</key><true/><key>com.apple.security.network.server</key><true/><key>keychain-access-groups</key><array><string>teamid.group.appgroup</string></array></dict></plist> com.apple.securityd
22207 debug ProvisioningProfiles taskgated-helper ConfigurationProfiles entitlements: { "com.apple.developer.networking.networkextension" = ( "packet-tunnel-provider-systemextension" ); "com.apple.developer.team-identifier" = team-id; "keychain-access-groups" = ( “teamid.group.appgroup” ); } com.apple.ManagedClient
22207 error ProvisioningProfiles taskgated-helper ConfigurationProfiles <bundle-id>: Unsatisfied entitlements: com.apple.developer.team-identifier, com.apple.developer.networking.networkextension, keychain-access-groups com.apple.ManagedClient
After encountering this problem every time, we tried using a different development team with a new bundle ID, app groups, developer ID, developer ID certificate, and provisioning profiles. The .entitlements file remained the same (with different IDs), as did the capabilities for the App IDs in App Store Connect.
With this new development team, we were successful, and the gatekeeper did not block the launch job. From a configuration standpoint, everything appears identical.
Updating the App Store Connect App ID capabilities and generating new provisioning profiles for the first development team did not resolve the issue.
Thank you for your help.
Hello,
I had a successful attempt at notarization earlier today in my build pipeline. I've been using the same system for building my macOS application for over a year now. However, subsequent builds seemed to fail. I found a couple similar topics which makes this seem not not an isolated incident:
https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/782950
https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/783347
https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/783283
In my case I use the following command to submit the notarization:
xcrun notarytool submit FilePath.dmg --apple-id "myappleid@gmail.com" --password "redacted_obviously" --team-id "my-team-id" --wait
I left a previous run go for over an hour and the "Current status: In Progress.................. etc" filled the whole terminal.
I manually checked the progress of the submissions using the command below:
xcrun notarytool log --apple-id "myappleid@gmail.com" --password "redacted_obviously_again" --team-id "my-team-id" [run id]
And they all result in the following output:
Submission log is not yet available or submissionId does not exist
Is anyone else experiencing this? Are there any possible solutions?
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Notarization
Hello, we are currently encountering a similar issue. We need to inject our capabilities into a third-party app by re-signing it (not a full re-signing process—just requiring the provisioning profile and certificate to match). However, this seems to affect the functionality of universal links. We've found that this issue only occurs on iOS 18.
We noticed that when re-signing the app, the entitlements related to associated domains are changed to a wildcard:
[Key] com.apple.developer.associated-domains
[Value]
[Array]
[String] *
However, this doesn’t cause any issues on iOS 17.
Through further testing, we discovered that in order for universal links to work properly, we need to restore the original value of com.apple.developer.associated-domains and use a provisioning profile that matches the app's bundle ID. This means our previous re-signing approach using a certificate and provisioning profile from another bundle will no longer work.
We’d like to ask: is this a new restriction introduced in iOS 18? If we manually restore the original com.apple.developer.associated-domains entitlement and use a provisioning profile that matches the app’s bundle ID, will universal links function correctly going forward?
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles
Tags:
Entitlements
Provisioning Profiles
Universal Links
Code Signing
*** Error: ERROR: [ContentDelivery.Uploader] Validation failed (409) Invalid Provisioning Profile. The provisioning profile included in the com.baiyun-shuniu.scss bundle [Payload/HBuilder.app] is invalid. [Missing code-signing certificate]. A distribution provisioning profile should be used when uploading apps to App Store Connect. (ID: e21c7a63-520f-49c5-8298-9afa3aa14dd5)
2025-05-13 09:23:20.382 INFO: [ContentDelivery.Uploader]
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles
Hi Developer Community,
I'm encountering persistent code signing failures on macOS Sonoma 15.3 with a valid Developer ID Application certificate. The error occurs consistently across multiple certificate regenerations and various troubleshooting approaches.
Environment
macOS Version: Sonoma 15.3
Developer Account Type: Developer ID
Certificate Type: Developer ID Application
Certificate Details:
Developer ID Application certificate valid until 2027
Using SHA-256 with RSA Encryption
Certificate shows as valid in Keychain Access with associated private key
Error Message
Warning: unable to build chain to self-signed root for signer "Developer ID Application: [my certificate]"
[filename]: errSecInternalComponent
Steps to Reproduce
Install certificate chain in order:
Apple Root CA (System keychain)
Apple WWDR CA (System keychain)
Developer ID CA (System keychain)
Developer ID Application certificate (Login keychain)
Verify certificate installation:
security find-identity -v -p codesigning
Result shows valid identity.
Attempt code signing with any binary:
codesign -s "Developer ID Application: [my certificate]" -f --timestamp --options runtime [filename]
Results in errSecInternalComponent error
Troubleshooting Already Attempted
Regenerated Developer ID Application certificate multiple times from Developer Portal
Completely removed and reinstalled entire certificate chain
Verified trust settings on all certificates (set to "Always Trust" for code signing)
Tried multiple codesign command variations including --no-strict flag
Verified keychain integrity
Installed latest Apple CA certificates from apple.com/certificateauthority
Verified certificate chain is properly recognized by security verify-cert
Additional Information
All certificates show as valid in Keychain Access
Private key is properly associated with Developer ID Application certificate
Trust settings are correctly configured for all certificates in the chain
Problem persists after clean certificate installations
Error occurs with any binary I try to sign
Has anyone else encountered this issue on Sonoma 15.3? Any suggestions for resolving this system-level certificate trust chain issue would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles
I started the notarization process for my electron app (just a browser window loading a URL) yesterday (26/03/2025) at around 05:23 GMT.
I noticed in a couple of posts here in the forum that it may sometimes take a day to notarize the first app submitted by a team, but it has been over 30 hours now.
Here's the log from xcrun notarytool history.
createdDate: 2025-03-26T05:23:11.102Z
id: ddcb3fca-4667-4acb-8fd1-3298a7c244cc
name: xolock-browser.zip
status: In Progress
Do help me out here, I have zero idea why this is taking so long.
Thanks in advance!
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Notarization
I regularly see folks run into problems with their Developer ID signing identities. Historically I pointed them to my posts on this thread, but I’ve decided to collect these ideas together in one place.
If you have questions or comments, start a new thread here on DevForums and tag it with Developer ID so that I see it.
IMPORTANT Nothing I write here on DevForums is considered official documentation. It’s just my personal ramblings based on hard-won experience. There is a bunch of official documentation that covers the topics I touch on here, including:
Xcode documentation
Xcode Help
Developer Account Help
Developer > Support > Certificates
For a lot more information about code signing, see the Code Signing Resources pinned post.
Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"
The Care and Feeding of Developer ID
Most Apple signing assets are replaceable. For example, if you accidentally lose access to your Apple Development signing identity, it’s a minor inconvenience. Just use the Developer website to revoke your previous certificate and create a replacement. Or have Xcode do that for you.
IMPORTANT If you don’t understand the difference between a certificate and a digital identity, and hence signing identity, read Certificate Signing Requests Explained before reading this post.
Some signing assets are precious. Losing access to such assets has significant consequences.
Foremost amongst those are Developer ID signing identities. These allow you to sign Mac products that ship independently. Anyone with access to your Developer ID signing identity can sign code as you. This has a number of consequences, both for you and for your relationship with Apple.
Identify a Developer ID Signing Identity
A Developer ID signing identity consists of two parts: the certificate and the private key. There are two different flavours, identifiable by the subject name in the certificate:
Developer ID Application — This is named Developer ID Application: TTT, where TTT identifies your team. Use this to sign code and disk images.
Developer ID Installer — This is named Developer ID Installer: TTT, where TTT identifies your team. Use this to sign installer packages.
Note If you do KEXT development, there’s a third flavour, namely a KEXT-enabled Developer ID Application signing identity. For more details, see KEXT Code Signing Problems.
This post focuses on traditional signing identities, where you manage the private key. Xcode Cloud introduced cloud signing, where signing identities are “stored securely in the cloud”. These identities have the Managed suffix in Certificates, Identifiers, and Profiles. For example, Developer ID Application Managed is the cloud signing equivalent of Developer ID Application. To learn more about cloud signing, watch WWDC 2021 Session 10204 Distribute apps in Xcode with cloud signing. To identify these certificates ‘in the wild’, see Identifying a Cloud Managed Signing Certificate.
Limit Access to Developer ID
Anyone with your Developer ID signing identity can sign code as you. Given that, be careful to limit access to these signing identities. This is true both for large organisations and small developers.
In a large organisation, ensure that only folks authorised to ship code on behalf of your organisation have access to your Developer ID signing identities. Most organisations have some sort of release process that they use to build, test, and authorise a release. This often involves a continuous integration (CI) system. Restrict CI access to only those folks involved in the release process.
Even if you’re a small developer with no formal release process, you can still take steps to restrict access to Developer ID signing identities. See Don’t Leak Your Private Key, below.
In all cases, don’t use your Developer ID signing identities for day-to-day development. That’s what Apple Development signing identities are for.
Create Developer ID Signing Identities as the Account Holder
Because Developer ID signing identities are precious, the Developer website will only let the Account Holder create them. For instructions on how to do this, see Developer Account Help > Create certificates > Create Developer ID certificates. For more information about programme roles, see Developer > Support > Program Roles.
IMPORTANT In an Organization team it’s common for the Account Holder to be non-technical. They may need help getting this done. For hints and tips on how to avoid problems while doing this, see Don’t Lose Your Private Key and Don’t Leak Your Private Key, both below.
Limit the Number of Developer ID Signing Identities You Create
Don’t create Developer ID signing identities unnecessarily. Most folks only need to create one. Well, one Developer ID Application and maybe one Developer ID Installer. A large organisation might need more, perhaps one for each sub-unit, but that’s it.
There are two reasons why this is important:
The more you have, the more likely it is for one to get into the wrong hands. Remember that anyone with your Developer ID signing identity can sign code as you.
The Developer website limits you to 5 Developer ID certificates.
Note I can never remember where this limit is actually documented, so here’s the exact quote from this page:
You can create up to five Developer ID Application certificates and up to five Developer ID Installer certificates using either your developer account or Xcode.
Don’t Lose Your Private Key
There are two standard processes for creating a Developer ID signing identity:
Developer website — See Developer Account Help > Create certificates > Create Developer ID certificates.
Xcode — See Xcode Help > Maintaining signing assets > Manage signing certificates.
Both processes implicitly create a private key in your login keychain. This makes it easy to lose your private key. For example:
If you do this on one Mac and then get a new Mac, you might forget to move the private key to the new Mac.
If you’re helping your Organization team’s Account Holder to create a Developer ID signing identity, you might forget to export the private key from their login keychain.
It also makes it easy to accidentally leave a copy of the private key on a machine that doesn’t need it; see Don’t Leak Your Private Key, below, for specific advice on that front.
Every time you create a Developer ID signing identity, it’s a good idea to make an independent backup of it. For advice on how to do that, see Back Up Your Signing Identities, below.
That technique is also useful if you need to copy the signing identity to a continuous integration system.
If you think you’ve lost the private key for a Developer ID signing identity, do a proper search for it. Finding it will save you a bunch of grief. You might be able to find it on your old Mac, in a backup, in a backup for your old Mac, and so on. For instructions on how to extract your private key from a general backup, see Recover a Signing Identity from a Mac Backup.
If you’re absolutely sure that you previous private key is lost, use the Developer website to create a replacement signing identity.
If the Developer website won’t let you create any more because you’ve hit the limit discussed above, talk to Developer Programs Support. Go to Apple > Developer > Contact Us and follow the path Development and Technical > Certificates, Identifiers, and Provisioning Profiles.
Don’t Leak Your Private Key
Anyone with your Developer ID signing identity can sign code as you. Thus, it’s important to take steps to prevent its private key from leaking.
A critical first step is to limit access to your Developer ID signing identities. For advice on that front, see Limit Access to Developer ID, above.
In an Organization team, only the Account Holder can create Developer ID signing identities. When they do this, a copy of the identity’s private key will most likely end up in their login keychain. Once you’ve exported the signing identity, and confirmed that everything is working, make sure to delete that copy of the private key.
Some organisations have specific rules for managing Developer ID signing identities. For example, an organisation might require that the private key be stored in a hardware token, which prevents it from being exported. Setting that up is a bit tricky, but it offers important security benefits.
Even without a hardware token, there are steps you can take to protect your Developer ID signing identity. For example, you might put it in a separate keychain, one with a different password and locking policy than your login keychain. That way signing code for distribution will prompt you to unlock the keychain, which reminds you that this is a significant event and ensures that you don’t do it accidentally.
If you believe that your private key has been compromised, follow the instructions in the Compromised Certificates section of Developer > Support > Certificates.
IMPORTANT Don’t go down this path if you’ve simply lost your private key.
Back Up Your Signing Identities
Given that Developer ID signing identities are precious, consider making an independent backup of them. To back up a signing identity to a PKCS#12 (.p12) file:
Launch Keychain Access.
At the top, select My Certificates.
On the left, select the keychain you use for signing identities. For most folks this is the login keychain.
Select the identity.
Choose File > Export Items.
In the file dialog, select Personal Information Exchange (.p12) in the File Format popup.
Enter a name, navigate to your preferred location, and click Save.
You might be prompted to enter the keychain password. If so, do that and click OK.
You will be prompted to enter a password to protect the identity. Use a strong password and save this securely in a password manager, corporate password store, on a piece of paper in a safe, or whatever.
You might be prompted to enter the keychain password again. If so, do that and click Allow.
The end result is a .p12 file holding your signing identity. Save that file in a secure location, and make sure that you have a way to connect it to the password you saved in step 9.
Remember to backup all your Developer ID signing identities, including the Developer ID Installer one if you created it.
To restore a signing identity from a backup:
Launch Keychain Access.
Choose File > Import Items.
In the open sheet, click Show Options.
Use the Destination Keychain popup to select the target keychain.
Navigate to and select the .p12 file, and then click Open.
Enter the .p12 file’s password and click OK.
If prompted, enter the destination keychain password and click OK.
Recover a Signing Identity from a Mac Backup
If you didn’t independently backup your Developer ID signing identity, you may still be able to recover it from a general backup of your Mac. To start, work out roughly when you created your Developer ID signing identity:
Download your Developer ID certificate from the Developer website.
In the Finder, Quick Look it.
The Not Valid Before field is the date you’re looking for.
Now it’s time to look in your backups. The exact details depend on the backup software you’re using, but the basic process runs something like this:
Look for a backup taken shortly after the date you determined above.
In that backup, look for the file ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain.
Recover that to a convenient location, like your desktop. Don’t put it in ~/Library/Keychains because that’ll just confuse things.
Rename it to something unique, like login-YYYY-MM-DD.keychain, where YYYY-MM-DD is the date of the backup.
In Keychain Access, choose File > Add Keychain and, in the resulting standard file panel, choose that .keychain file.
On the left, select login-YYYY-MM-DD.
Chose File > Unlock Keychain “login-YYYY-MM-DD“.
In the resulting password dialog, enter your login password at the date of the backup.
At the top, select My Certificates.
Look through the list of digital identities to find the Developer ID identity you want. If you don’t see the one you’re looking for, see Further Recovery Tips below.
Export it using the process described at the start of Back Up Your Signing Identities.
Once you’re done, remove the keychain from Keychain Access:
On the left, select the login-YYYY-MM-DD keychain.
Choose File > Delete Keychain “login-YYYY-MM-DD”.
In the confirmation alert, click Remove Reference.
The login-YYYY-MM-DD.keychain is now just a file. You can trash it, keep it, whatever, at your discretion.
This process creates a .p12 file. To work with that, import it into your keychain using the process described at the end of Back Up Your Signing Identities.
IMPORTANT Keep that .p12 file as your own independent backup of your signing identity.
Further Recovery Tips
If, in the previous section, you can’t find the Developer ID identity you want, there are a few things you might do:
Look in a different backup.
If your account has more than one keychain, look in your other keychains.
If you have more than one login account, look at the keychains for your other accounts.
If you have more than one Mac, look at the backups for your other Macs.
The login-YYYY-MM-DD keychain might have the private key but not the certificate. Add your Developer ID certificate to that keychain to see if it pairs with a private key.
Revision History
2025-03-28 Excised the discussion of Xcode’s import and export feature because that was removed in Xcode 16.
2025-02-20 Added some clarification to the end of Don’t Leak Your Private Key.
2023-10-05 Added the Recover a Signing Identity from a Mac Backup and Further Recovery Tips sections.
2023-06-23 Added a link to Identifying a Cloud Managed Signing Certificate.
2023-06-21 First posted.
I've submitted my app four times, each time waiting a few hours for something to happen, then reducing the file size of my *.dmg and trying again. The first two seemed to have completed after 36 hours, but I no longer have that specific signed binary (and its a much smaller binary now anyway). The latest two are still "In Progress" and its almost been 48 hours.
I know my process isn't wrong, and my app isn't somehow incorrectly built or being denied because two were accepted. The outage page shows green for the notary tool (https://developer.apple.com/system-status/) so I'm not sure what the hold up is.
I am a new macOS developer, and the codesign issue is persistent. I've been trying to resolve it for days. There are two issues:
1.) When downloading and installing frameworks, they are not showing up in Xcode templates.
2.) Regarding codesigning, even though I've installed it on my external drive and placed it in various locations (Library, Templates, Frameworks, Application Contents, macOS Templates and Frameworks) and added through General Libraries in Xcode, persistently encountering issues. I'm experiencing a codesign problem. I've cleaned the build, cleared derived data, downloaded certificates, added them to the access key, and linked the binary. However, the issue persists. Please help me, as this is making the process much more difficult. I've been stuck on this for weeks.
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
General