gravitational/teleport · error

XPC connection interrupted

Error message

XPC connection interrupted

What it means

errXPCConnectionInterrupted (lib/vnet/daemon/common_darwin.go:56) wraps the macOS NSXPCConnectionInterrupted error code from NSCocoaErrorDomain. The XPC connection to the VNet daemon was dropped mid-communication. Per the code comment in client_darwin.go, when there are no daemon-side errors, this frequently means the client did not satisfy the daemon's code signing requirement.

Source

Thrown at lib/vnet/daemon/common_darwin.go:56

	// errorCodeAlreadyRunning is returned within [vnetErrorDomain] errors to indicate that the daemon
	// received a message to start after it was already running.
	errorCodeAlreadyRunning = int(C.VNEAlreadyRunningError)
	errAlreadyRunning       = errors.New("VNet is already running")

	// errorCodeMissingCodeSigningIdentifiers is returned within [vnetErrorDomain] Obj-C errors and
	// transformed to [errMissingCodeSigningIdentifiers] in Go.
	errorCodeMissingCodeSigningIdentifiers = int(C.VNEMissingCodeSigningIdentifiersError)
	errMissingCodeSigningIdentifiers       = errors.New("either identifier or team identifier is missing in code signing information; is the binary signed?")
)

var (
	// nsCocoaErrorDomain is a generic error domain used in a lot of Apple's Cocoa frameworks.
	nsCocoaErrorDomain = "NSCocoaErrorDomain"

	// https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundation/nsxpcconnectioninterrupted-swift.var
	errorCodeNSXPCConnectionInterrupted = int(C.NSXPCConnectionInterrupted)
	errXPCConnectionInterrupted         = errors.New("XPC connection interrupted")

	// https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundation/nsxpcconnectioncodesigningrequirementfailure-swift.var
	errorCodeNSXPCConnectionCodeSigningRequirementFailure = int(C.NSXPCConnectionCodeSigningRequirementFailure)
	errXPCConnectionCodeSigningRequirementFailure         = errors.New("code signing requirement failed")

	// https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundation/nsxpcconnectioninvalid-swift.var
	errorCodeNSXPCConnectionInvalid = int(C.NSXPCConnectionInvalid)
	errXPCConnectionInvalid         = errors.New("XPC connection invalid")
)

func DaemonLabel() (string, error) {
	path, err := darwinbundle.Path()
	if err != nil {
		return "", trace.Wrap(err)
	}

	cPath := C.CString(path)
	defer C.free(unsafe.Pointer(cPath))

View on GitHub (pinned to 1283425b60)

Solutions

  1. Capture logs in Console.app and search for `xpc_support_check_token ... status: -67050` to confirm whether the code signing requirement failed; if so, re-sign the client correctly.
  2. Check daemon logs for a startup error (e.g. inaccessible TELEPORT_HOME path) and fix the offending condition.
  3. Retry the start; if the daemon crashed, inspect its crash report and fix the underlying crash.
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Type guard

func isXPCConnectionInterrupted(err error) bool { return errors.Is(err, vnetdaemon.ErrXPCConnectionInterrupted) }

Try / catch

if err := client.RegisterAndCall(ctx, bundlePath, cfg); err != nil {
    if errors.Is(err, vnetdaemon.ErrXPCConnectionInterrupted) {
        log.ErrorContext(ctx, "XPC connection interrupted; check Console.app for xpc_support_check_token status -67050 and verify code signing")
    }
    return trace.Wrap(err)
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: C.StartVnet returns an NSCocoaErrorDomain error with code NSXPCConnectionInterrupted; the XPC service died or the connection was torn down during the handshake or while a call was in flight.

Common situations: Client binary not satisfying the daemon's code signing requirement (look for `xpc_support_check_token ... status: -67050` in Console.app logs); daemon crashing or exiting unexpectedly; TELEPORT_HOME pointing at a directory the daemon cannot access, causing the daemon to shut down right after start.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of gravitational/teleport@1283425b60 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9a196a86e02c5e7d. Report an issue: GitHub.