I'm developing a macOS security tool using NEFilterDataProvider as a system extension. On macOS 26 beta (25E241), sysextd consistently rejects my extension with: sysextd: no policy, cannot allow apps outside /Applications Configuration: App installed in /Applications/ Signed with Developer ID Application (693DSH8GN5) Entitlement: com.apple.developer.networking.networkextension = content-filter-provider com.apple.developer.system-extension.install = true Developer Mode enabled on test machine Comparison with Little Snitch: Little Snitch runs correctly on the same machine. Key differences I found: Little Snitch uses content-filter-provider-systemextension instead of content-filter-provider Little Snitch has com.apple.security.app-sandbox = false Both signed with Developer ID Application When I switch to content-filter-provider-systemextension, Xcode rejects every provisioning profile because none match that entitlement value, and the Developer Portal doesn't expose fine-grained control over the Network Extensions array values. Questions Is content-filter-provider-systemextension the correct entitlement for system extensions on macOS 26? How should the provisioning profile be configured to support it? Is there a known sysextd issue on macOS 26 beta causing this regardless of configuration? Is there - somewhere! - a guide on how to build such an extension? Thanks in advance for your help.

com.apple.main-thread 0 StarMaker 0x5c40854 _isPlatformVersionAtLeast.cold.2 + 4425680980 1 StarMaker 0x526d278 -[FPRScreenTraceTracker displayLinkStep] + 191 (FPRScreenTraceTracker.m:191) 2 QuartzCore 0xbe924 CA::Display::DisplayLinkItem::dispatch(CA::SignPost::Interval<(CA::SignPost::CAEventCode)835322056>&) + 64 3 QuartzCore 0x9bf38 CA::Display::DisplayLink::dispatch_items(unsigned long long, unsigned long long, unsigned long long) + 880 4 QuartzCore 0xaf770 CA::Display::DisplayLink::dispatch_deferred_display_links(unsigned int) + 360 5 UIKitCore 0x7dee4 _UIUpdateSequenceRunNext + 128 6 UIKitCore 0x7d374 schedulerStepScheduledMainSectionContinue + 60 7 UpdateCycle 0x1560 UC::DriverCore::continueProcessing() + 84 8 CoreFoundation 0x164cc __CFMachPortPerform + 168 9 CoreFoundation 0x460b0 CFRUNLOOP_IS_CALLING_OUT_TO_A_SOURCE1_PERFORM_FUNCTION + 60 10 CoreFoundation 0x45fd8 __CFRunLoopDoSource1 + 508 11 CoreFoundation 0x1dc1c __CFRunLoopRun + 2168 12 CoreFoundation 0x1ca6c _CFRunLoopRunSpecificWithOptions + 532 13 GraphicsServices 0x1498 GSEventRunModal + 120 14 UIKitCore 0x9ddf8 -[UIApplication _run] + 792 15 UIKitCore 0x46e54 UIApplicationMain + 336 16 StarMaker 0x50c965c main + 18 (main.m:18) 17 ??? 0x19a9dae28 (缺少) Thread 0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x67f4 __semwait_signal + 8 1 libsystem_c.dylib 0xc7e4 nanosleep + 220 2 ZorroRtcEngineKit 0x1eb0f8 std::__Cr::this_thread::sleep_for(std::__Cr::chrono::duration<long long, std::__Cr::ratio<1l, 1000000000l>> const&) + 198 (pthread.h:198) 3 ZorroRtcEngineKit 0x27d30 zorro::KbLog::Loop() + 88 (kblog.cc:88) 4 ZorroRtcEngineKit 0x286e8 <deduplicated_symbol> + 4667967208 5 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x444c _pthread_start + 136 6 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x8cc thread_start + 8 Thread 0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x67f4 __semwait_signal + 8 1 libsystem_c.dylib 0xc7e4 nanosleep + 220 2 ZorroRtcEngineKit 0x1eb0f8 std::__Cr::this_thread::sleep_for(std::__Cr::chrono::duration<long long, std::__Cr::ratio<1l, 1000000000l>> const&) + 198 (pthread.h:198) 3 ZorroRtcEngineKit 0x19a4e4 zorro::ZkbLog::Loop() + 157 (zlog.cc:157) 4 ZorroRtcEngineKit 0x286e8 <deduplicated_symbol> + 4667967208 5 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x444c _pthread_start + 136 6 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x8cc thread_start + 8 Thread 0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x67f4 __semwait_signal + 8 1 libsystem_c.dylib 0xc7e4 nanosleep + 220 2 ZorroRtcEngineKit 0x1eb0f8 std::__Cr::this_thread::sleep_for(std::__Cr::chrono::duration<long long, std::__Cr::ratio<1l, 1000000000l>> const&) + 198 (pthread.h:198) 3 ZorroRtcEngineKit 0x19c4d8 zorro::QosManager::Loop() + 966 (string:966) 4 ZorroRtcEngineKit 0x286e8 <deduplicated_symbol> + 4667967208 5 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x444c _pthread_start + 136 6 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x8cc thread_start + 8

There are multiple report of crashes on URLConnectionLoader::loadWithWhatToDo. The crashed thread in the stack traces pointing to calls inside CFNetwork which seems to be internal library in iOS. The crash has happened quite a while already (but we cannot detect when the crash started to occur) and impacted multiple iOS versions recorded from iOS 15.4 to 18.4.1 that was recorded in Xcode crash report organizer so far. Unfortunately, we have no idea on how to reproduce it yet but the crash keeps on increasing and affect more on iOS 18 users (which makes sense because many people updated their iOS to the newer version) and we haven’t found any clue on what actually happened and how to fix it on the crash reports. What we understand is it seems to come from a network request that happened to trigger the crash but we need more information on what (condition) actually cause it and how to solve it. Hereby, I attach sample crash report for both iOS 15 and 18. I also have submitted a report (that include more crash reports) with number: FB17775979. Will appreciate any insight regarding this issue and any resolution that we can do to avoid it. iOS 15.crash iOS 18.crash

Dear Apple Developer Support Team, I am writing to inquire about the process for obtaining approval for the following entitlement in my iOS/macOS app: <key>com.apple.developer.networking.networkextension</key> <array> <string>content-filter-provider</string> </array> Specifically, I would like guidance on: The steps required to submit a request for this entitlement. Any necessary documentation or justification that needs to be provided to Apple. Typical review timelines and approval criteria. Any restrictions or compliance requirements associated with this entitlement. Our app intends to implement a content filtering functionality to enhance network security and user safety. We want to ensure full compliance with Apple’s policies and guidelines. Could you please provide detailed instructions or point us to the relevant resources to initiate this approval process? Thank you for your assistance.

Hello, We are implementing a Transparent Proxy using NETransparentProxyProvider and configuring NETransparentProxyNetworkSettings with NENetworkRule. Currently, NENetworkRule requires: NENetworkRule( destinationHost: NWHostEndpoint(hostname: String, port: String), protocol: .TCP / .UDP / .any ) NWHostEndpoint.port accepts only a single port value (as a String) or an empty string for all ports. At present, we are creating a separate NENetworkRule for each port in the range (ex for range 49152–65535 approximately 16,384 rules). After deploying this configuration, we observe the following behavior: nesessionmanager starts consuming very high CPU (near 100%) The system becomes unresponsive The device eventually hangs and restarts automatically The behavior resembles a kernel panic scenario This strongly suggests that creating thousands of NENetworkRule entries may not be a supported or scalable approach. Questions: Is there any officially supported way to specify a port range in NENetworkRule? Is creating thousands of rules (one per port) considered acceptable or supported? Is the recommended design to intercept broadly (e.g., port = "") and filter port ranges inside handleNewTCPFlow / handleNewUDPFlow instead? Are there documented system limits for the number of NENetworkRule entries allowed in NETransparentProxyNetworkSettings?

I've created an application, applied for the multicast permissioning, it was granted to my bundleID and therefore my application. I've since come out with new versions of the same app, but now multicast entitlement is no longer provisioned. What must I check to identify where the problem exists? I can provide any details needed to troubleshoot.

I’m building a macOS app with a DNS Proxy system extension for Developer ID + notarization, deployed via MDM, and Xcode fails the Developer ID Release build with a provisioning profile mismatch for com.apple.developer.networking.networkextension. Environment macOS: Sequoia (15.7.2) Xcode: 26.2 Distribution: Developer ID + notarization, deployed via MDM Host bundle ID: com.mydns.agent.MyDNSMacProxy DNS Proxy system extension bundle ID: com.mydns.agent.MyDNSMacProxy.dnsProxy Host entitlements (Release): File: MyDNSMacProxy/MyDNSMacProxyRelease.entitlements: "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>com.apple.application-identifier</key> <string>B234657989.com.mydns.agent.MyDNSMacProxy</string> <key>com.apple.developer.networking.networkextension</key> <array> <string>dns-proxy</string> </array> <key>com.apple.developer.system-extension.install</key> <true/> <key>com.apple.developer.team-identifier</key> <string>B234657989</string> <key>com.apple.security.app-sandbox</key> <true/> <key>com.apple.security.application-groups</key> <array> <string>group.com.mydns.MyDNSmac</string> </array> <key>keychain-access-groups</key> <array> <string>B234657989.*</string> </array> </dict> </plist> xcodebuild -showBuildSettings -scheme MyDNSMacProxy -configuration Release : PROVISIONING_PROFILE_SPECIFIER = main MyDNSMacProxy5 CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY = Developer ID Application Host Developer ID profile main_MyDNSMacProxy5.provisionprofile (via security cms -D): "Entitlements" => { "com.apple.application-identifier" => "B234657989.com.mydns.agent.MyDNSMacProxy" "com.apple.developer.team-identifier" => "B234657989" "com.apple.security.application-groups" => [ "group.com.mydns.MyDNSmac", ..., "B234657989.*" ] "keychain-access-groups" => [ "B234657989.*" ] "com.apple.developer.system-extension.install" => 1 "com.apple.developer.networking.networkextension" => [ "packet-tunnel-provider-systemextension", "app-proxy-provider-systemextension", "content-filter-provider-systemextension", "dns-proxy-systemextension", "dns-settings", "relay", "url-filter-provider", "hotspot-provider" ] } So: App ID, team ID, keychain and system‑extension.install match. The profile’s com.apple.developer.networking.networkextension is a superset of what I request in the host entitlements (dns-proxy only). System extension (for context) DNS Proxy system extension target: NSExtensionPointIdentifier = com.apple.dns-proxy NetworkExtension → NEProviderClasses → com.apple.networkextension.dns-proxy → my provider class Entitlements: com.apple.developer.networking.networkextension = ["dns-proxy-systemextension"] This target uses a separate Developer ID profile and builds successfully. Xcode error Release build of the host fails with: …MyDNSMacProxy.xcodeproj: error: Provisioning profile "main MyDNSMacProxy5" doesn't match the entitlements file's value for the com.apple.developer.networking.networkextension entitlement. (in target 'MyDNSMacProxy' from project 'MyDNSMacProxy') Xcode UI also says: Entitlements: 6 Included, 1 Missing Includes com.apple.developer.team-identifier, com.apple.application-identifier, keychain-access-groups, com.apple.developer.system-extension.install, and com.apple.security.application-groups. Doesn’t match entitlements file value for com.apple.developer.networking.networkextension. Because of this, the app bundle isn’t produced and I can’t inspect the final signed entitlements. Questions: For com.apple.developer.networking.networkextension, should Xcode accept a subset of values in the entitlements (here just dns-proxy) as long as that value is allowed by the Developer ID profile, or does it currently require a stricter match? Is the following configuration valid for Developer ID + MDM with a DNS Proxy system extension: Host entitlements: ["dns-proxy"] System extension entitlements: ["dns-proxy-systemextension"] Host profile’s NE array includes the DNS Proxy system extension types. If this is a known limitation or bug in how Xcode validates NE entitlements for Developer ID, is there a recommended workaround? Thanks for any guidance.

Hello Apple Support Team, We are seeing a production crash on iOS 26 devices that appears to originate from Apple system frameworks rather than application code. Crash Summary Crash signature: _xzm_xzone_malloc_freelist_outlined Crashed thread: com.apple.network.connections Frameworks involved: CFNetwork, Security, libdispatch, libsystem_malloc Affected OS: iOS 26.x App built with: Xcode 16 Devices: Multiple models (not device-specific) Reproducibility: Intermittent, higher frequency during app launch / background networking Observed Stack Trace (top frames) _xzm_xzone_malloc_freelist_outlined dispatch_data_create_alloc xpc_data_deserialize SecTrustEvaluateIfNecessary CFNetwork HTTPProtocol / HTTP3Connection com.apple.network.connections App Context The app uses URLSession for networking. Multiple third-party SDKs are integrated (Firebase Analytics, Dynatrace, Appsflyer, and similar analytics/monitoring SDKs). These SDKs perform concurrent background network requests, especially during app launch and foreground transitions. No unsafe memory operations (manual malloc/free, unsafe pointers, or custom networking stacks) are used in the app code. Key Observations The crash is predominantly observed on iOS 26 and not on earlier iOS versions. Stack traces do not include application symbols. Disabling or delaying analytics SDK initialization significantly reduces the crash rate. Reducing concurrent network requests and limiting HTTP/3 usage also mitigates the issue. This suggests a potential regression in CFNetwork / Network.framework / HTTP/3 handling combined with the new memory allocator (xzone) on iOS 26. Impact Random app termination during background networking. Occurs without a clear deterministic repro path, making it difficult to fully mitigate at the app level. Request Could you please help investigate whether this is a known iOS 26 issue related to: HTTP/3 / QUIC networking XPC deserialization Memory allocation in the new xzone allocator High-concurrency network requests We would appreciate guidance on: Recommended mitigations Whether this issue is already tracked internally Any best practices for apps integrating multiple analytics SDKs on iOS 26 Crash logs and additional diagnostics can be provided if needed. Thank you for your support. Best regards, Dhananjay

Hello, I am writing a NetworkExtension VPN using custom protocol and our client would like to able to use 5G network slice on the VPN, is this possible at all? From Apple's documentation, I found the following statement: If both network slicing and VPN are configured for an app or device, the VPN connection takes precedence over the network slice, rendering the network slice unused. Is it possible to assign a network slice on a NetworkExtension-based VPN and let the VPN traffic uses the assign network slice? Many thanks

I want to know the right way/API/usage to use NWConnectionGroup to send both datagram and non-datagram stream. I am currently working on an P2P video streaming app. I want to leverage NWConnectionGroup over QUIC to handle both message channel (traditionally handled by a TCP connection) and media channel (traditionally handled by sth. over UDP) to transmit SRT packets back and forth. I created a NWConnectionGroup and it worked fine on non-datagram parts. The problems are with datagram part. I tried extracting a connection with datagram = true either from the group or from message, doesn't and in some cases it breaks other non-datagram connections. I currently send datagram directly using the NWConnectionGroup.send(content:completion). It kinda works but I keep seeing it canceled a lot of messages, which breaks SRT shortly after start. The warnings belong flooded my console. (Seems like want me to create a connection to transmit datagram, how?) nw_connection_create_with_connection [C1600] Original connection not yet connected nw_connection_group_create_connection_for_endpoint_and_parameters [G1] failed to create connection with parameters quic, local: fe80::439:68b4:6ec2:694%en0.60517, definite, attribution: developer, server I must use it in wrong way. What should I do to fix it?

Hello, is there a way to get MCC/MNC carrier codes on iOS? I'm also wondering if there's a private API. I want to obtain network information while I am abroad to determine the country of residence.

I have an app that has been using the following code to down load audio files: if let url = URL(string: episode.fetchPath()) { var request = URLRequest(url: url) request.httpMethod = "get" let task = session.downloadTask(with: request) And then the following completionHandler code: func urlSession(_ session: URLSession, downloadTask: URLSessionDownloadTask, didFinishDownloadingTo location: URL) { try FileManager.default.moveItem(at: location, to: localUrl) In the spirit of modernization, I'm trying to update this code to use async await: var request = URLRequest(url: url) request.httpMethod = "get" let (data, response) = try await URLSession.shared.data(for: request) try data.write(to: localUrl, options: [.atomicWrite, .completeFileProtection]) Both these code paths use the same url value. Both return the same Data blobs (they return the same hash value) Unfortunately the second code path (using await) introduces a problem. When the audio is playing and the iPhone goes to sleep, after 15 seconds, the audio stops. This problem does not occur when running the first code (using the didFinish completion handler) Same data, stored in the same URL, but using different URLSession calls. I would like to use async/await and not have to experience the audio ending after just 15 seconds of the device screen being asleep. any guidance greatly appreciated.

Hello, A customer has requested the development of a home assistance app to be published on the App Store. The app will connect to a server running locally at the end user's home, for example on a Raspberry Pi. Users would enter the IP address or hostname of their personal server into the app. A strict requirement is that, for data protection reasons, there must not be any proxy server. The app should only communicate directly with the local server (e.g., Raspberry Pi). We are able to solve technical challenges such as DNS, dynamic IP, and port forwarding, router configuration. However, I'm concerned about Apple's requirement that the endpoint – in this case, the Raspberry Pi at the user's home – must not use self-signed SSL certificates. While it may be technically possible to secure the home server with a certificate provider like Let's Encrypt, it is unrealistic to expect a typical user with no technical training to accomplish this setup independently. Is there a recommended solution to this problem, particularly in the context of IoT devices and apps? Any advice or experiences would be deeply appreciated.

TL;DR: How does one use DNSServiceReconfirmRecord() to invalidate mDNS state of a device that's gone offline? I'm using the DNSServiceDiscovery API (dns_sd.h) for a local P2P service. The problem I'm trying to solve is how to deal with a peer that abruptly loses connectivity, i.e. by turning off WiFi or simply by moving out of range or otherwise losing connectivity. In this situation there is of course no notification that the peer device has gone offline; it simply stops sending any packets. After my own timeout mechanism determines the peer is not responding, I mark it as offline in my own data structures. The problem is how to discover when/if it comes back online later. My DNSServiceBrowse callback won't be invoked because mDNS doesn't know the device went offline in the first place. I am trying to use DNSServiceReconfirmRecord, which appears to be for exactly this use case -- "Instruct the daemon to verify the validity of a resource record that appears to be out of date (e.g. because TCP connection to a service's target failed.)" However my attempts always return a BadReference error (-65541). The function requires me to pass a DNS record, and the only one I know is the TXT record; perhaps it needs a different one? Which, and how would I get it? Thanks!

We use as content filter in our app to monitor flows, we gather data about the flow and block flows deemed suspicious. Our content filter is activated/deactivated by a UI app but the flows are reported via XPC to a separate daemon process for analysis. As of macOS 15, we are seeing cases where flows are missing or flows are not received at all by the content filter. The behaviour is not consistent, some devices seem to receive flows normally but others don't. It appears Intel devices are much less prone to showing the problem, whereas Arm devices routinely exhibit missing flows. On macOS 14 or earlier, there is no sign of missing flows. Testing on earlier beta versions of macOS 15 did not appear to show the problem, however I can't rule out if issue was present but it wasn't spotted. Experimenting with simple examples of using a content filter (e.g. QNE2FilterMac) does not appear to reproduce the issue. Questions, What has changed between macOS 14 and 15 that could be the cause of the lack of flows? Is our approach to using an app activated content filter reporting to a daemon connected via XPC unsupported?

I'm using a Mac Studio in a homelab context and use Homebrew to manage the installed services. The services include things that access the local network, for example Prometheus which monitors some other servers, a reverse proxy which fronts other web services on the network, and a DNS server which can use another as upstream. Local Network Access permissions make it impossible to reliably perform unattended updates of services because an updated binary requires a GUI login to grant local network permissions (again). I use brew services to manage the services as launchd agents, i.e. they run in a non-root GUI context. I know that I can also use sudo brew services which instead installs the services as launchd daemons, but running services as root has negative security implication and generally doesn't look like a good idea to me. If only there was a way to disable local network access checks altogether…

Hello team, I am developing a security app where I am denying certain flows/packets if the are communicating with known malicious endpoints. Therefore I want to make use of NetworkExtensions such as the new URLFilter or ContentFilter (NEURLFilterManager, NEFilterDataProvider, NEFilterControlProvider). Does NEURLFilterManager require the user's device to be at a minimun of ios 26? Does any of these APIs/Extensions require the device to be managed/supervised or can it be released to all consumers? Thanks,

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?

Hi, We are trying to use Apple Security API for KeyChain Services. Using the common App Group : Specifying the common app group in the "kSecAttrAccessGroup" field of the KeyChain query, allowed us to have a shared keychains for different apps (targets) in the app group, but this did not work for extensions. Enabling the KeyChain Sharing capability : We enabled the KeyChain Sharing Ability in the extensions and the app target as well, giving a common KeyChain Access group. Specifying this in the kSecAttrAccessGroup field also did not work. This was done in XCode as we were unable to locate it in the Developer portal in Indentifiers. We tried specifying "$AppIdentifier.KeyChainSharingGroup" in the kSecAttrAccessGroup field , but this did not work as well The error code which we get in all these 3 cases when trying to access the Keychain from the extension is error code 25291 (errSecNotAvailable). The Documentation says this error comes when "No Trust Results are available" and printing the error in xcode using the status says "No keychain is available. The online Documentation says that it is possible to share keychain with extensions, but by far we are unable to do it with the methods suggested. Do we need any special entitlement for this or is there something we are missing while using these APIs? We really appreciate any and all help in solving this issue! Thank you

NWPathMonitor appears to retain itself (or is retained by some internal infrastructure) once it has been started until cancelled. This seems like it can lead to memory leaks if the references to to the monitor are dropped. Is this behavior documented anywhere? func nwpm_self_retain() { weak var weakRef: NWPathMonitor? autoreleasepool { let monitor: NWPathMonitor = NWPathMonitor() weakRef = monitor monitor.start(queue: .main) // monitor.cancel() // assertion fails unless this is called } assert(weakRef == nil) } nwpm_self_retain()