Local Network Access Nightmare

[MOM20xx]

Hi,

this new layer in macos sequoia for local network acess is a nightmare. you can not reset permissions here oder remove apps. even i grant an app for local network access after a while or an reboot. the access is not working.

only solutions in macos 15.2 on my imac m1: disable ethernet adapter reenable ethernet adapter or logout and login again or disable access to local network and enable access again.

i'm using microsoft edge as browser. while edge made an update internally i get popup to grant edge for local network access. since this i had edge app twice in local network access. both apps go /Applications/Microsoft Edge when opening it in finder.

Even when i completely removed edge from my mac i still had one Edge entry in this permissions.

This is so worse and buggy. Why did apple punish user which such stupid access layers?

 

[Bigwaff]

this new layer in macos sequoia for local network acess is a nightmare.

Yes, it is. Disable macOS firewall.. Settings > Network > Firewall. If this gives you concern, you can use a third-party firewall like Little Snitch until Apple gets its act together.

 

[bogdanw]

you can not reset permissions here oder remove apps.

To reset Local Network permissions, from Terminal in Recovery delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.networkextension.plist

rm "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/com.apple.networkextension.plist"

 

[MOM20xx]

Yes, it is. Disable macOS firewall.. Settings > Network > Firewall. If this gives you concern, you can use a third-party firewall like Little Snitch until Apple gets its act together.

Sorry this has nothing to do with macOS firewall. The macOS Firewall is disabled. since macOS 15 apps developed not by apple need Local Network Permission to access resources in the local subnet even if macOS firewall is disabled!

 

[MOM20xx]

To reset Local Network permissions, from Terminal in Recovery delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.networkextension.plist

rm "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/com.apple.networkextension.plist"

acording to How to reset (remove) apps from "L… | Apple Developer Forums and TN3179: Understanding local network privacy | Apple Developer Documentation this is a bad idea to do so.

Reset local network state
During testing, you might want to reset your program’s Local Network privilege to the undetermined state. Your options for this vary by platform.

On iOS, the easiest option is to delete your app.

Alternatively, if you don’t want to delete your app for some reason, reset the entire privacy subsystem using Settings > General > Transfer or Reset > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy.

On macOS there’s no way to reset your program’s Local Network privilege to the undetermined state (FB14944392). One alternative is to run your program in a virtual machine (VM). To retest, restore the VM from a snapshot taken before you installed your program.

Alternatively, create a new user account and run your test there. Remember that macOS maintains separate local network privacy state for each user account.

So Apple created something that you can not reset if there are errors. you have to reinstall everything if you want to reset Local Network privilege.

what stupid descision will come next from apple side?

 

[bogdanw]

acording to How to reset (remove) apps from "L… | Apple Developer Forums and TN3179: Understanding local network privacy | Apple Developer Documentation this is a bad idea to do so.

I don't understand, why?
I've deleted it and it was recreated by macOS without the permissions for Local Network. When I started Edge and tried to access a local IP, the normal prompt was displayed.

 

[MOM20xx]

I don't understand, why?
I've deleted it and it was recreated by macOS without the permissions for Local Network. When I started Edge and tried to access a local IP, the normal prompt was displayed.

Thank you. I tried it and it's really working. so maybe apple don't want this solution because the file can only be deleted in recovery mode.

edit: there are some impacts after doing this. I had a VPN Connection defined on my imac. this was invisible after deleting the file. so i had to configure this again. also find my mac did not work anymore. i had to disable and enable it again.

before deleting this file it had extended attributes i think com.apple.macl. this is gone now on my macs. how can i recreate this again or will there be any issues without this attribute?

extended attributes came from finder. i right clicked the file in finder to display fileinformation dialog and preview of the file in this dialog. so everything without extened attributes is fine.

 

[jmandawg]

To reset Local Network permissions, from Terminal in Recovery delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.networkextension.plist

rm "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/com.apple.networkextension.plist"

Thank you, this is the only thing that worked. I can access my local server now.

 

[ostwilkens]

For me, the file was on the Data volume.

diskutil apfs unlock Data
rm "/Volumes/Data/Library/Preferences/com.apple.networkextension.plist"

This finally reset the settings for me.

 

[bogdanw]

diskutil apfs unlock Data

That is for FileVault, right?
If a file can be deleted, it’s on the Data volume. But for compatibility reasons, the file is linked on the system volume. So, "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/com.apple.networkextension.plist" and "/Volumes/Macintosh HD - Data/Library/Preferences/com.apple.networkextension.plist" are the same file.

 

[ostwilkens]

That is for FileVault, right?
If a file can be deleted, it’s on the Data volume. But for compatibility reasons, the file is linked on the system volume. So, "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/com.apple.networkextension.plist" and "/Volumes/Macintosh HD - Data/Library/Preferences/com.apple.networkextension.plist" are the same file.

I’m not read up on FileVault, but the file did not exist on Macintosh HD in my case. Also, my data volume is just named ”Data”.
I have a M1 MBP if it’s relevant.

Edit: it might have been the case that the file was available on Macintosh HD after unlocking the Data volume; I didn’t check this.

 

[sulphur27]

For my i noticed that by connecting and disconnecting my VPN it sometimes re-triggers the local network alert so that can Allow and get by my localconenction to work in Chrome. That's only what works in my case

 

[Karl Magnussen]

After an update to MacOS 15.4 this problem occurred in Chrome. Network access was active in the safety settings, and disabling/re-enabling didn't work.

What fixed it for me was to activate WiFi in addition to Ethernet. WiFi doesn't have to stay on, it's just briefly needed for a "friendly push". Maybe the extra IP number on the same network healed the amnesia.

 

[sziehr]

I run an iperf3 server and since 15.4 it is just dead and I use it a lot in my lab for networking. lovely. apple you screwed something up and have left no way to fix it

 

[bogdanw]

apple you screwed something up and have left no way to fix it

Have you tried deleting com.apple.networkextension.plist?

 

[nmt1900]

If one has more than dozen of built-in VPN client entries then it might be a good idea to give it a thought before deleting com.apple.networkextension.plist - because it seems like VPN connection information is in that plist as well...