SecItemAdd always returns error -34018 in Xcode 8 in iOS 10 simulator

Question

Update: This issue has been fixed in Xcode 8.2. Keychain works in the simulator without enabling keychain sharing.

Why am I always receiving error -34018 when calling SecItemAdd function in Xcode 8 / iOS 10 simulator?

Steps to Reproduce

Create a new Single page iOS app project in Xcode 8. Run the following code in viewDidLoad (or open this Xcode project).

let itemKey = "My key"
let itemValue = "My secretive bee 🐝"

// Remove from Keychain
// ----------------

let queryDelete: [String: AnyObject] = [
  kSecClass as String: kSecClassGenericPassword,
  kSecAttrAccount as String: itemKey as AnyObject
]

let resultCodeDelete = SecItemDelete(queryDelete as CFDictionary)

if resultCodeDelete != noErr {
  print("Error deleting from Keychain: \(resultCodeDelete)")
}


// Add to keychain
// ----------------

guard let valueData = itemValue.data(using: String.Encoding.utf8) else {
  print("🐣🐣🐣🐣🐣🐣🐣🐣🐣🐣 Error saving text to Keychain")
  return
}

let queryAdd: [String: AnyObject] = [
  kSecClass as String: kSecClassGenericPassword,
  kSecAttrAccount as String: itemKey as AnyObject,
  kSecValueData as String: valueData as AnyObject,
  kSecAttrAccessible as String: kSecAttrAccessibleWhenUnlocked
]

let resultCode = SecItemAdd(queryAdd as CFDictionary, nil)

if resultCode != noErr {
  print("🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 Error saving to Keychain: \(resultCode).")
} else {
  print("🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 Saved to keychain successfully.")
}

Expected Results

Item is added to Keychain.

Actual Results

Function SecItemAdd returns the following error code: -34018.

Version

Xcode version 8.1 (8B62), macOS Sierra 10.12.1.

Configuration

Always occurs in Xcode 8 since Beta 2 when testing in an iOS 10 simulator.

Does NOT occur in Xcode 8 when testing in an iOS 9.3 simulator.

Demo

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11143285/2016/07/KeychainBugDemo.zip

References

Radar: https://openradar.appspot.com/27422249

Apple Developer Forums: https://forums.developer.apple.com/message/179846

This issue is different from the following post because it occurs consistently in Xcode 8. SecItemAdd and SecItemCopyMatching returns error code -34018 (errSecMissingEntitlement)

Powe

This still appears to be an issue in Xcode 8 GM. Nice to see Apple is still on top of their game... – Richert

I'm really digging your console logs :-) – Curtsey

The issue was fixed in Xcode 8.2 but it's back in Xcode 9.0! – Enchanter

Answer 1

I was able to work around this in my app by adding Keychain Access Groups to the Entitlements file. I turned on the Keychain Sharing switch in the Capabilities section in your test app, and it is working for me as well.

Item to add to entitlements:

<key>keychain-access-groups</key>
<array>
    <string>$(AppIdentifierPrefix)com.evgenii.KeychainBugDemo</string>
</array>

I have only tried this on macOS Sierra (10.12), so I'm not sure if it will work for you on 10.11.5.

Mccants

Same here, only that I am using Xcode 8 beta 5 currently (with iOS 10 simulator. Problem didn't show up with previous beta. Also does not happen when testing with 8b5 on a real iOS 9 iPhone). I noticed that the Push Notifications in Capabilities needed fixing (i.e. pressing the button) and also turned Keychain Sharing on, unfortunately at the same time. Then the app did not get the error anymore. After turning off Keychain Sharing again, it still works! – Normally

I use the keychain a test target and it fails - how would I get around this? (Since there are no capabilities in test targets) – Wonderment

@SamJarman I had this problem too. I just went into the build settings for the test target & un-set the entitlements field. Worked fine after that. – Sinistrad

This solution works well for App Targets. Unfortunately, I'm working on a Swift framework that uses KeychainSwift which doesn't build anymore due to the error. In a framework target, I can't add an entitlements file afaik. Does anyone know a workaround for this case? – Muticous

@JanNash, here is how I managed to make the testing work evgenii.com/blog/testing-a-keychain-library-in-xcode – Powe

@Powe thanks for your article! For some reason in my build target Host Application was not set up. After I selected my app's target there keychain started to work in iOS 10 simulator. And it seems not really necessary to have keychain-access-groups, for me it was just enough to have entitlements file with aps-environment set for development (this solves a warning during development runs of the app on device). – Caulfield

@MaximMikheev What do you mean asp-environment set for development. I turned on the keychain share doesn't help : ( – Floranceflore

Also if you have one target but different bundle IDs (for dev en release for example), you'll have to create entitlements for each one. – Norwich

The answer by Deyton works like a charm if you are in the position where you can enable Automatic Code Signing. If you need to leave Code Signing to manual, you should add the correct Code Signing Identity to "Any iOS SDK" in the Build Settings tab of your target. So: - Follow the steps in Deyton's answer - Add Code Signing Identity to "Any iOS SDK" below the build configurations (image) – Confuse

Answer 2

In Xcode 8.1 GM Release Notes Apple acknowledged the problem and suggested a cleaner workaround:

Keychain APIs may fail to work in the Simulator if your entitlements file doesn’t contain a value for the application-identifier entitlement. (28338972) Workaround: Add a user-defined build setting to your target named ENTITLEMENTS_REQUIRED and set the value to YES. This will cause Xcode to automatically insert an application-identifier entitlement when building.

Note that from what I have tried, it only works in Xcode 8.1. Although the text can mislead you into a build setting, what you need to do is add this to your Environment Variables, in your scheme.

Xcode 8.2 will solve this:

Resolved in Xcode 8.2 beta - IDE Keychain APIs work correctly in Simulator. (28338972)

Irrawaddy

@Tiago Is this workaround from the release notes still working for you in Xcode 8.1 on the iOS 10.1 simulator? I've tried adding this setting (both as a User-Defined setting on the target, and as a an Environment Variable in the scheme), and I still get the -34018 return value when running on the iOS 10.1 simulators. – Sangsanger

@guywithmazda, same here. Still getting -34018 and tried both build settings and environment variables. – Scrubland

Does not work for me, neither in build settings nor as a scheme's environmental variable in Xcode 8.1 (8B62) on Sierra. Am I missing something? – Powe

Also getting this error. Adding as env variable not fixing. – Symphonize

I had to manually add the entitlement, a la: key: application-identifier, <array><string>my.application.id</string></array> – Woodworker

I am using Xcode 8.2.1 and this issue is still reproducible. Also, my question is if I dont have host app, and I am creating the Framework target, then how to resolve this issue? – Binghi

This problem still affects unit tests for Framework targets because in this case it would be the test host stub that needs entitlements. We are aware of the issue but if it is a blocker for you please file a duplicate bug. – Advisee

Answer 3

This can happen if you have a test target that does not have a host app. To fix

1. add a dummy host app :

2. Enable automatic code signing and add a team :

3. Enable keychain sharing in capabilities

Vexillum

Answer 4

I got an error while signing with email, creating a new user or with sign out using firebase.

The error was:

firauth error domain code 17995

I turned on the Keychain Sharing switch in the Capabilities section in your test app, and it is working for me as well.

Idaho

Answer 5

I was looking for a solution that didn't use Keychain sharing, as that wasn't the feature I was looking for. The developer forum Seems to have a good work around from EvergreenCoder that you can limit in scope to only the iOS 10 simulator (as this seems to be the only affected simulator). From the post:

The issue seems to be that there must be at least one entitlement in order for Xcode to properly add the "application-identifier" enttilement to the built application. This is why keychain sharing seems to be a solution but it is only indirectly so: any other entitlement seems to work fine.

You can create a .plist like so:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>  
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-/  
<plist version="1.0">  
    <dict>  
        <key>get-task-allow</key>  
        <true/>  
    </dict>  
</plist>

and provide a path to that file under Build Settings in

Code Signing->Debug->Simulater iOS 10 SDK->($SRCROOT)/your-path-to-file

As stated in the post, this entitlement just allows the debugger to be attached.

Lyndes

Answer 6

I had a similar issue, though I was getting the -34018 error when trying to run on device. I am using XCode 8.1 on Sierra with iOS 10.1. I work on a team and suddenly had this issue when we switched to "Automatically manage signing" in the project settings. When I turn this off and manually select my profile, everything works fine. I ended up having to delete my developer certificate from my keychain, then re-select "Automatically manage signing". On the next build, it generated a new signing certificate for me and everything works fine now. I'm still not sure what caused the issue as the other cert worked fine when manually selected, but not when being managed by XCode. Hope this helps stop an hours long headache for someone else.

Harsh

Answer 7

I was able to solve this issue in Xcode 11 without any entitlement adjustments.

I simply added a new app target to my framework's project called MyFrameworkTestsHostApp.

Then I selected the MyFrameworkTests target and chose its Host Application as MyFrameworkTestsHostApp.

Plangent

Answer 8

It works after enabling the keychain sharing in capabilities.

Distinctive

Answer 9

There 3 steps to take to resolve this issue quickly.

1. Turn on Keychain sharing in your project capabilities.
2. Select Automatic Provisioning with a profile
3. Ensure your custom entitlement option is set to Entitlement.plist.

This will do the magic

Marlenmarlena