A Cocoa-style NSTask-like wrapper class around the AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges() function in the macOS Security API to run shell commands with root privileges. Implemented in Objective-C.
STPrivilegedTask was created a very long time ago (~2005) and has a long history. It has been updated over the years to work with the latest versions of macOS (macOS 13 "Ventura" as of writing) and is available via CocoaPods. It relies on a native system function that has been deprecated since Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion" (2011) and will fail gracefully if the function is not available in a future version of the operating system. That being said, caveat emptor!
Add the following to your Podfile target's dependencies:
pod 'STPrivilegedTask', '~> 1.0.8'...or just download the two STPrivileged.* source files and include them directly in your project.
To import:
#import "STPrivilegedTask.h"// Create task
STPrivilegedTask *privilegedTask = [STPrivilegedTask new];
[privilegedTask setLaunchPath:@"/usr/bin/touch"];
[privilegedTask setArguments:@[@"/etc/my_test_file"]];
// Setting working directory is optional, defaults to /
// NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] resourcePath];
// [privilegedTask setCurrentDirectoryPath:path];
// Launch it, user is prompted for password (blocking)
OSStatus err = [privilegedTask launch];
if (err == errAuthorizationSuccess) {
NSLog(@"Task successfully launched");
}
else if (err == errAuthorizationCanceled) {
NSLog(@"User cancelled");
}
else {
NSLog(@"Something went wrong, error %d", err);
}See Authorization.h for a list of possible error codes.
OSStatus err = [STPrivilegedTask launchedPrivilegedTaskWithLaunchPath:@"/bin/sh"
arguments:@[@"/path/to/script.sh"]];// ... Launch task
[privilegedTask waitUntilExit]; // This is blocking
// Read output file handle for data
NSData *outputData = [[privilegedTask outputFileHandle] readDataToEndOfFile];
NSString *outputString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:outputData
encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
// ... Launch privilegedTask
NSFileHandle *readHandle = [privilegedTask outputFileHandle];
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
selector:@selector(getOutputData:)
name:NSFileHandleReadCompletionNotification
object:readHandle];
[readHandle readInBackgroundAndNotify];
// ...
- (void)getOutputData:(NSNotification *)aNotification {
// Get data from notification
NSData *data = [[aNotification userInfo] objectForKey:NSFileHandleNotificationDataItem];
// Make sure there's actual data
if ([data length]) {
// Do something with the data
NSString *outputString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data
encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSLog(@"%@", outputString);
// Go read more data in the background
[[aNotification object] readInBackgroundAndNotify];
} else {
// Do something else
}
}You can observe STPrivilegedTaskDidTerminateNotification:
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
selector:@selector(privilegedTaskFinished:)
name:STPrivilegedTaskDidTerminateNotification
object:nil];
- (void)privilegedTaskFinished:(NSNotification *)aNotification {
// Do something
}Or alternatively set a termination handler block:
privilegedTask.terminationHandler = ^(STPrivilegedTask *privilegedTask) {
NSLog(@"Terminating task: %@", [privilegedTask description]);
};// ... Create your own AuthorizationRef
[STPrivilegedTask launchedPrivilegedTaskWithLaunchPath:@"/bin/sh"
arguments:@"/path/to/script"
currentDirectory:@"/"
authorization:authRef]AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges() is deprecated as of macOS 10.7 but still remains available in macOS 13 "Ventura". If you want to be future-proof, here's how you check if STPrivilegedTask works in the running version of macOS:
// ...create privilegedTask object
OSStatus err = [privilegedTask launch];
if (err == errAuthorizationFnNoLongerExists) {
NSLog(@"AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges not available");
// Do something to handle the situation
}If you need to check whether STPrivilegedTask works before you launch the task:
BOOL works = [STPrivilegedTask authorizationFunctionAvailable];A sample app which makes use of STPrivilegedTask is included in the project. This app runs the following script:
#!/bin/sh
echo "/usr/bin/whoami:"
whoami
echo ""
echo "Real User ID:"
echo $UID \($USER\)
echo ""
echo "Effective User ID:"
/usr/bin/id -u
echo ""
echo "Current working directory:"
echo "$PWD"
exit 5
It waits for the script to finish and then shows the output in a window, along with the exit code.
Copyright (c) 2008-2023 Sveinbjorn Thordarson <[email protected]> All rights reserved.
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