macOS Seatbelt Sandbox Profiling Generate minimally-permissioned allowlist-based Seatbelt sandbox configurations for applications. When to Use User asks to "sandbox", "isolate", or "restrict" an application on macOS Sandboxing any macOS process that needs restricted file/network access Creating defense-in-depth isolation if supply chain attacks are a concern When NOT to Use Linux containers (use seccomp-bpf, AppArmor, or namespaces instead) Windows applications Applications that legitimately need broad system access Quick one-off scripts where sandboxing overhead isn't justified Profiling Methodology Step 1: Identify Application Requirements Determine what the application needs across these resource categories: Category Operations Common Use Cases File Read file-read-data , file-read-metadata , file-read-xattr , file-test-existence , file-map-executable Reading source files, configs, libraries File Write file-write-data , file-write-create , file-write-unlink , file-write-mode , file-write-xattr , file-clone , file-link Output files, caches, temp files Network network-bind , network-inbound , network-outbound Servers, API calls, package downloads Process process-fork , process-exec , process-exec-interpreter , process-info , process-codesigning Spawning child processes, scripts Mach IPC mach-lookup , mach-register , mach-bootstrap , mach-task-name System services, XPC, notifications POSIX IPC ipc-posix-shm , ipc-posix-sem Shared memory, semaphores Sysctl sysctl-read , sysctl-write Reading system info (CPU, memory) IOKit iokit-open , iokit-get-properties , iokit-set-properties Hardware access, device drivers Signals signal Signal handling between processes Pseudo-TTY pseudo-tty Terminal emulation System system-fsctl , system-socket , system-audit , system-info Low-level system calls User Prefs user-preference-read , user-preference-write Reading/writing user defaults Notifications darwin-notification-post , distributed-notification-post System notifications AppleEvents appleevent-send Inter-app communication (AppleScript) Camera/Mic device-camera , device-microphone Media capture Dynamic Code dynamic-code-generation JIT compilation NVRAM nvram-get , nvram-set , nvram-delete Firmware variables For each category, determine: Needed? and Specific scope (paths, services, etc.) If the application has multiple subcommands that perform significantly different operations, such as build and serve commands for a Javascript bundler like Webpack, do the following: Profile the subcommands separately Create separate Sandbox configurations for each subcommand Create a helper script that acts as a drop-in replacement for the original binary, executing the sandboxed application with the appropriate Seatbelt profile according to the subcommand passed. Step 2: Start with Minimal Profile Begin with deny-all and essential process operations, saved in a suitably-named Seatbelt profile file with the .sb extension. ( version 1 ) ( deny default ) ;; Essential for any process ( allow process-exec ) ( allow process-fork ) ( allow sysctl-read ) ;; Metadata access (stat, readdir) - doesn't expose file contents ( allow file-read-metadata ) Step 3: Add File Read Access (Allowlist) Use file-read-data (not file-read ) for allowlist-based reads: ( allow file-read-data ;; System paths (required for most runtimes) ( subpath "/usr" ) ( subpath "/bin" ) ( subpath "/sbin" ) ( subpath "/System" ) ( subpath "/Library" ) ( subpath "/opt" ) ;; Homebrew ( subpath "/private/var" ) ( subpath "/private/etc" ) ( subpath "/private/tmp" ) ( subpath "/dev" ) ;; Root symlinks for path resolution ( literal "/" ) ( literal "/var" ) ( literal "/etc" ) ( literal "/tmp" ) ( literal "/private" ) ;; Application-specific config (customize as needed) ( regex ( string-append "^" ( regex-quote ( param "HOME" ) ) "/\.myapp(/.)?$" ) ) ;; Working directory ( subpath ( param "WORKING_DIR" ) ) ) Why file-read-data instead of file-read ? file-read allows ALL file read operations including from any path file-read-data only allows reading file contents from listed paths Combined with file-read-metadata (allowed broadly), this gives: ✅ Can stat/readdir anywhere (needed for path resolution) ❌ Cannot read contents of files outside allowlist Step 4: Add File Write Access (Restricted) ( allow file-write ;; Working directory only ( subpath ( param "WORKING_DIR" ) ) ;; Temp directories ( subpath "/private/tmp" ) ( subpath "/tmp" ) ( subpath "/private/var/folders" ) ;; Device files for output ( literal "/dev/null" ) ( literal "/dev/tty" ) ) Step 5: Configure Network Three levels of network access: ;; OPTION 1: Block all network (most restrictive - use for build tools) ( deny network ) ;; OPTION 2: Localhost only (use for dev servers, local services) ;; Bind to local ports ( allow network-bind ( local tcp ":" ) ) ;; Accept inbound connections ( allow network-inbound ( local tcp ":" ) ) ;; Outbound to localhost + DNS only ( allow network-outbound ( literal "/private/var/run/mDNSResponder" ) ;; DNS resolution ( remote ip "localhost:" ) ) ;; localhost only ;; OPTION 3: Allow all network (least restrictive - avoid if possible) ( allow network ) Network filter syntax: (local tcp ":") - any local TCP port (local tcp ":8080") - specific local port (remote ip "localhost:*") - outbound to localhost only (remote tcp) - outbound TCP to any host (literal "/private/var/run/mDNSResponder") - Unix socket for DNS Step 6: Test Iteratively After you generate or edit the Seatbelt profile, test the functionality of the target application in the sandbox. If anything fails to work, revise the Seatbelt profile. Repeat this process iteratively until you have generated a minimally-permissioned Seatbelt file and have confirmed empirically that the application works normally when sandboxed using the Seatbelt profile you generated. If the program requires external input to function fully (such as a Javascript bundler that needs an application to bundle), find sample inputs from well-known, ideally official sources. For instance, these example projects for the Rspack bundler: https://github.com/rstackjs/rstack-examples/tree/main/rspack/
Test basic execution
sandbox-exec -f profile.sb -D WORKING_DIR = /path -D HOME = $HOME /bin/echo "test"
Test the actual application
sandbox-exec -f profile.sb -D WORKING_DIR = /path -D HOME = $HOME \ /path/to/application --args
Test security restrictions
sandbox-exec -f profile.sb -D WORKING_DIR = /tmp -D HOME = $HOME \ cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa
Expected: Operation not permitted
- Common failure modes:
- Symptom
- Cause
- Fix
- Exit code 134 (SIGABRT)
- Sandbox violation
- Check which operation is blocked
- Exit code 65 + syntax error
- Invalid profile syntax
- Check Seatbelt syntax
- ENOENT
- for existing files
- Missing
- file-read-metadata
- Add
- (allow file-read-metadata)
- Process hangs
- Missing IPC permissions
- Add
- (allow mach-lookup)
- if needed
- Seatbelt Syntax Reference
- Path Filters
- (
- subpath
- "/path"
- )
- ;; /path and all descendants
- (
- literal
- "/path/file"
- )
- ;; Exact path only
- (
- regex
- "^/path/.*\.js$"
- )
- ;; Regex match
- Parameter Substitution
- (
- param
- "WORKING_DIR"
- )
- ;; Direct use
- (
- subpath
- (
- param
- "WORKING_DIR"
- )
- )
- ;; In subpath
- (
- string-append
- (
- param
- "HOME"
- )
- "/.config"
- )
- ;; Concatenation
- (
- regex-quote
- (
- param
- "HOME"
- )
- )
- ;; Escape for regex
- Operations
- File operations:
- (
- allow
- file-read-data ...
- )
- ;; Read file contents
- (
- allow
- file-read-metadata
- )
- ;; stat, lstat, readdir (no contents)
- (
- allow
- file-read-xattr ...
- )
- ;; Read extended attributes
- (
- allow
- file-test-existence ...
- )
- ;; Check if file exists
- (
- allow
- file-map-executable ...
- )
- ;; mmap executable (dylibs)
- (
- allow
- file-write-data ...
- )
- ;; Write to existing files
- (
- allow
- file-write-create ...
- )
- ;; Create new files
- (
- allow
- file-write-unlink ...
- )
- ;; Delete files
- (
- allow
- file-write* ...
- )
- ;; All write operations
- (
- allow
- file-read* ...
- )
- ;; All read operations (use sparingly)
- Process operations:
- (
- allow
- process-exec* ...
- )
- ;; Execute binaries
- (
- allow
- process-fork
- )
- ;; Fork child processes
- (
- allow
- process-info-pidinfo
- )
- ;; Query process info
- (
- allow
- signal
- )
- ;; Send/receive signals
- Network operations:
- (
- allow
- network-bind
- (
- local
- tcp
- ":"
- )
- )
- ;; Bind to any local TCP port
- (
- allow
- network-bind
- (
- local
- tcp
- "*:8080"
- )
- )
- ;; Bind to specific port
- (
- allow
- network-inbound
- (
- local
- tcp
- ":"
- )
- )
- ;; Accept TCP connections
- (
- allow
- network-outbound
- (
- remote
- ip
- "localhost:*"
- )
- )
- ;; Outbound to localhost only
- (
- allow
- network-outbound
- (
- remote
- tcp
- )
- )
- ;; Outbound TCP to any host
- (
- allow
- network-outbound
- (
- literal
- "/private/var/run/mDNSResponder"
- )
- )
- ;; DNS via Unix socket
- (
- allow
- network*
- )
- ;; All network (use sparingly)
- (
- deny
- network*
- )
- ;; Block all network
- IPC operations:
- (
- allow
- mach-lookup ...
- )
- ;; Mach IPC lookups
- (
- allow
- mach-register ...
- )
- ;; Register Mach services
- (
- allow
- ipc-posix-shm* ...
- )
- ;; POSIX shared memory
- (
- allow
- ipc-posix-sem* ...
- )
- ;; POSIX semaphores
- System operations:
- (
- allow
- sysctl-read
- )
- ;; Read system info
- (
- allow
- sysctl-write ...
- )
- ;; Modify sysctl (rare)
- (
- allow
- iokit-open ...
- )
- ;; IOKit device access
- (
- allow
- pseudo-tty
- )
- ;; Terminal emulation
- (
- allow
- dynamic-code-generation
- )
- ;; JIT compilation
- (
- allow
- user-preference-read ...
- )
- ;; Read user defaults
- Known Limitations
- Deprecated but functional
-
- Apple deprecated sandbox-exec but it works through macOS 14+
- Temp directory access often required
- Many applications need /tmp and /var/folders Example: Generic CLI Application ( version 1 ) ( deny default ) ;; Process ( allow process-exec ) ( allow process-fork ) ( allow sysctl-read ) ;; File metadata (path resolution) ( allow file-read-metadata ) ;; File reads (allowlist) ( allow file-read-data ( literal "/" ) ( literal "/var" ) ( literal "/etc" ) ( literal "/tmp" ) ( literal "/private" ) ( subpath "/usr" ) ( subpath "/bin" ) ( subpath "/sbin" ) ( subpath "/opt" ) ( subpath "/System" ) ( subpath "/Library" ) ( subpath "/dev" ) ( subpath "/private/var" ) ( subpath "/private/etc" ) ( subpath "/private/tmp" ) ( subpath ( param "WORKING_DIR" ) ) ) ;; File writes (restricted) ( allow file-write ( subpath ( param "WORKING_DIR" ) ) ( subpath "/private/tmp" ) ( subpath "/tmp" ) ( subpath "/private/var/folders" ) ( literal "/dev/null" ) ( literal "/dev/tty" ) ) ;; Network disabled ( deny network* ) Usage: sandbox-exec -f profile.sb \ -D WORKING_DIR = /path/to/project \ -D HOME = $HOME \ /path/to/application References Apple Sandbox Guide (reverse-engineered) sandbox-exec man page