securityd using 100% CPU and polluting system.log

Question

Since I upgraded to Mavericks, I often have the following processes using full CPU power:

• securityd
• syslogd
• kernel_task

I guess securityd contains a bug, because it is polluting /var/log/system.log with thousands of messages per second, and the system can not follow up.

Here is an example of messages I get:

Nov 11 15:55:10 localhost securityd[22]: assertion failed: 13A603: libxpc.dylib + 44365 [4554927A-9467-365C-91F1-5A116989DD7F]: 0x13
Nov 11 16:14:47 --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Nov 11 15:55:10 localhost securityd[22]: assertion failed: 13A603: libxpc.dylib + 26642 [4554927A-9467-365C-91F1-5A116989DD7F]: 0x13
Nov 11 16:14:47 --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Nov 11 15:55:10 localhost securityd[22]: assertion failed: 13A603: libxpc.dylib + 44365 [4554927A-9467-365C-91F1-5A116989DD7F]: 0x13
Nov 11 16:14:47 --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Nov 11 15:55:10 localhost securityd[22]: assertion failed: 13A603: libxpc.dylib + 26642 [4554927A-9467-365C-91F1-5A116989DD7F]: 0x13
Nov 11 16:14:47 --- last message repeated 1 time ---

I believe this is a critical issue, as it makes Mac OS X is extremely slow and unresponsive.

Killing securityid doesn't help. The process is recreated, and keeps polluting syslogd.

If I reboot the entire system, everything seems ok for a while, before the same issue happens again. I didn't figured out what triggers this issue yet.

Answer 1

I have the same problem with securityd occupying high CPU on a Mac, it's caused by Source Tree credentials in Keychain Access. Removing the login data of SourceTree in KeyChain restored my CPU usage back to normal levels.

Answer 2

In my case, the haywire securityd process was caused by GitHub desktop app - during commit, network issues caused an error in ssh handshake. Subsequent commits went fine. GitHub app was left open, securityd was heating up my CPU. Quitting GitHub app fixed the problem - probably terminating something in securityd. So my guess is, securityd has some infinite loop issue during crypto operations, maybe just with ssh and handshakes.

So, check if and how your daily workflow can trigger securityd (logging into server? github?) and isolate the problem.

Answer 3

You can temporarily alleviate the problem by restarting SecurityAgent using the following terminal command:

sudo killall SecurityAgent

This worked each time for me. I am still investigating the root cause.

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As far as I can tell, this was triggered by switching to another user account where I'd had to reset the password as I'd forgotten the original password. This caused multiple Keychain failures (original password required to unlock the Keychain) and I got an 'endless loop' of prompts along the lines of 'Apple Messages Agent wants to use the item 'login' from your keychain..'

Answer 4

I'm seeing the same exact problem for the second time in a row within a week with the exact same messages in the console.

For me, rebooting usually solves the problem (first time I had to force shutdown as machine was unresponsive). And like you, I have yet to find the trigger that starts the messages.

The activity monitor is not the culprit, I am usually alerted by the fan going crazy, so then I start the activity monitor just to see both syslogd and securityd using about 90% of CPU.

Answer 5

Troubleshooting the actual cause may be problematic since XPC is a generic inter-process communication protocol and only loads on demand. The Apple software uses this subsystem as can any third party program - so it could be Apple's fault or it could be something you are running and the main problem is you don't have an easy way to know which program is causing the heavy logging load (and perhaps a heavy legitimate workload as well as just logging).

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I agree that any diagnostic logging that is so rapid and uncontrollable as to affect either the energy usage of the computer or the performance of the computer noticeably should be considered a fault.

The most productive way to address that is actually to document the problem and report this as a bug to Apple.

Mavericks has done a stellar job at exposing both the diagnostic tools and the energy usage over time of all processes to the interested end user.

• Open Energy Saver, select Energy and sort by Avg Energy Impact - snap a picture of the window it processes the last day's usage logs.
• Select the CPU view, search for securityd, select it in the list of active tasks and then "Run System Diagnostics..." either from the View menu or the gear in the toolbar.
• Send both the picture and the compressed diagnostics report to Apple at https://developer.apple.com/bug-reporting/

You will need an AppleID that is associated with some sort of developer account, so you can sign up as a Safari developer for free if you don't already have an account that is enabled for reporting specific bugs to Apple.

Answer 6

I created a VM using virtualBox and this issue is somewhat recreateable. I have created some keychain items and when I visit the website that the keychain item is for, the VM hangs for a good 1-2min, then frees up. It may be git-osxkeychain-helper causing the securityd process to eat the whole cpu.

Answer 7

I solved the issue by following:

1. Open Activity Monitor
2. Force quit securityd
3. Enter the password of ssh key like the image
4. Uncheck Store password in keychain
5. Click Ok

Hope to help you!

Answer 8

I think this may be a bug much older than Mavericks. I'm not sure I was having the same problem as you because I never checked my syslog, but I did have securityd eating up CPU and RAM. I used an old solution from 2007 (for Leopard?).

tldr:

sudo mv /var/db/CodeEquivalenceDatabase /var/db/CodeEquivalenceDatabase.old

then restart. Feel free to delete the old file afterwards, as OS X automatically creates a new one.

Answer 9

Seems to have something to do with keychain manager. I was just having this and killed keychain and it went away.