Mojave 10.14.5 breaks Virtualbox ?

Mojave 10.14.5 update seems to break Virtualbox 6.0.7 or 5.2.30 : if uninstalled will not install, if already installed will not execute after update (system extension blocked). Found during fresh Mojave 10.14.1 mac OS install. If true, any workaround ?


This is very annoying for those who choose Apple as their host computer for IT dev.


Log entries

error 17:56:03.773944 +0200 kextd Kext rejected due to system policy: <OSKext 0x7fa04a4244b0 [0x7fff973108e0]> { URL = "file:///Library/StagedExtensions/Library/Application%20Support/VirtualBox/VBoxDrv.kext/", ID = "org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv" }

error 17:56:03.774049 +0200 kextd org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv failed security checks; failing.

MacBook Air 13", macOS 10.14

Posted on May 16, 2019 1:17 PM

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Posted on May 17, 2019 12:25 AM

Many thanks ! "ryan" explained in https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=89769&p=448751&hilit=mojave#p448751


  1. Turn on your Mac, then immediately press and hold Command-R to start up from macOS Recovery.
  2. Select Disk Utility from the Utilities window, then click Continue.
  3. From the Disk Utility sidebar, select the volume that you're using, then choose File > Mount from the menu bar. (If the volume is already mounted, this option is dimmed.) 
  4. Then enter your administrator password when prompted.
  5. Quit Disk Utility.
  6. Choose Terminal from the Utilities menu in the menu bar.
  7. Type the command: 
  8. spctl kext-consent add VB5E2TV963
  9. When done, choose Apple () menu > Restart.


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9 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 17, 2019 12:25 AM in response to av2222

Many thanks ! "ryan" explained in https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=89769&p=448751&hilit=mojave#p448751


  1. Turn on your Mac, then immediately press and hold Command-R to start up from macOS Recovery.
  2. Select Disk Utility from the Utilities window, then click Continue.
  3. From the Disk Utility sidebar, select the volume that you're using, then choose File > Mount from the menu bar. (If the volume is already mounted, this option is dimmed.) 
  4. Then enter your administrator password when prompted.
  5. Quit Disk Utility.
  6. Choose Terminal from the Utilities menu in the menu bar.
  7. Type the command: 
  8. spctl kext-consent add VB5E2TV963
  9. When done, choose Apple () menu > Restart.


May 23, 2019 12:43 AM in response to av2222

Was discussed on Stackoverflow as well: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/55004803/install-virtualbox-6-on-mac-10-14-mojave-failed-with-kernel-install-error


Workaround: Add the Oracles dev ID to the list of consented kext developers manually by:

  1. restart Mac in Recovery Mode
  2. Run command in Terminal: spctl kext-consent add VB5E2TV963
  3. Restart Mac


Worked for me with VirtualBox 5.2.30 as well.


SIP is a good feature in principle, so a general deactivation should be avoided


[Edit] Sorry, for duplicating solution proposals. Just saw the not very helpful post marked as "solution" and the sledgehammer marked as "helpful" :-/ and wrote my answer before checking the full thread....

May 22, 2019 6:20 AM in response to lawrencelkp

Apple added a new security feature in High Sierra 10.13.2 whereby KEXT drivers had to be approved by the user. Software like virtualisation software i.e. VirtualBox and Anti-Virus software are the most common cases for users to encounter this.


In an enterprise environment it is possible to 'pre-approve' these KEXTs on behalf of a user using an MDM - Mobile Device Management solution. Home users will of course not be using an MDM and would need to manually approve them.


Normally this is done in System Preferences -> Security & Privacy. The following article although for a different KEXT shows how this would be done.


https://helpdesk.egnyte.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002904012-How-to-Approve-Egnyte-s-Kernel-Extension-in-macOS-High-Sierra-and-Mojave


Sadly I have seen VirtualBox still get stuck. It seems the programmers of VirtualBox are not very good at writing Mac software.


So the instructions given by av2222 sound like a way to get round that.


However in answer to your question - how did he find that string? When you install a piece of software which installs a KEXT this is added to a list managed by Apple's security software. This list contains the ID number assigned to the developer of that software. It is possible to view this information and display a list of these values.


See - https://technology.siprep.org/getting-the-team-id-of-kernel-extensions-in-macos-10-13-and-higher/


However a much more thorough check for these KEXT strings is achieved using the script provided on the following web page, I used this script and got a list of about 20 different ones on my Mac.


https://www.richard-purves.com/2017/11/09/mdm-and-the-kextpocalypse-2/


Note: Some KEXTs are installed by Apple as standard. Somewhat illogically even though Apple have provided and installed these as standard they are still not automatically trusted. This particularly applies to drivers for various PCIe SATA and SATA RAID controllers from HighPoint, Atto, SoftRaid, CalDigit etc.

May 22, 2019 8:09 AM in response to dialabrain

The string was found by "ryan" on the VB forum with the command "$ spctl kext-consent list" on a mac OS system with VB already installed prior to 10.14.5 or approved, I was unable to google find it myself, see also John Lockwood comment below.


We should not complain about increased KEXT security, but Apple and / or Oracle Corp., the VB editor, could have been more friendly to VB on mac OS users by publishing the appropriate instructions.

May 22, 2019 9:20 AM in response to av2222

I agree this security measure i.e. requiring approval for KEXTs is an important one.


However we can complain about the quality of Oracle's programmers who develop Virtualbox. :)


FYI - spctl kext-conset list does not list anything on my Mac. However this maybe because they are all pre-approved via our MDM. I suspect it would only list ones requiring manual user approval. The script I linked to lists them all regardless.

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Mojave 10.14.5 breaks Virtualbox ?

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