taskgated(8) BSD System Manager's Manual taskgated(8)
NAME
taskgated -- task_for_pid access control daemon
SYNOPSIS
taskgated [-s] [-t timeout] [-i pid]
DESCRIPTION
taskgated is a system daemon that implements a policy for the task_for_pid system service. When the kernel is asked for the task port of a
process, and preliminary access control checks pass, it invokes this daemon (via launchd) to make the decision.
OPTIONS
-t timeout
The daemon will quit after that many seconds of inactivity. It will be relaunched by launchd as needed. A timeout of zero can be
specified to make the daemon quit after servicing each request, but a small positive timeout is better for performance.
-i pid Inject the service port of taskgated into the process with the given pid, rather than relying on launchd to install it system-wide.
This is for testing only, and requires the launchd configuration for taskgated to be removed.
AUTHORIZATION RIGHTS
system.privilege.taskport Authorization right used to check access of allowed (but not safe) callers.
INFO KEYS
SecTaskAccess A value of "allowed" is required for any program that wants access to task ports. A value of "safe" bypasses authorization
checks if so configured. Code must be signed by any system-trusted signing authority.
FILES
/etc/authorization to configure the authorization used.
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.taskgated
startup configuration file for taskgated
SEE ALSO
security(1), launchd(8)
HISTORY
taskgated was first introduced in Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard).
Procmod and procview support (-p) was removed in 10.11.
Certain software updates of Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger) introduced the convention requiring membership in the procmod or procview groups to control
task port access. Before that, any process could obtain the task port of any other process with the same user-id.
Darwin June 1, 2019 Darwin