Apps from Mac App Store crash when started (CODESIGNING error)

I believe I've found a solution. I reformatted a partition APFS instead of Mac OS Extended, did a clean install of High Sierra, and the App Store apps now launch and function fine. But I didn't transfer over my users files and settings, I'll try that next.

This helped me

sudo codesign --deep -fs - /Applications/iA\ Writer.app/

iA\ Writer.app/ - is the app that can not be opened. Type the code into Terminal app:

sudo codesign --deep -fs - /Applications/

and then press Tab button - it will display all possible apps. Type a few letters of an app and then tab again - it will autocomplete the name.

The press Enter and your password

Summary...

No matter what I do the vast majority of the apps don't work.

Details...

I have been working on this issue since last Thursday, inclusive. After more than five days of trying, including help from an Apple Support call, I'm ready to just sit tight and see if Apple acknowledges the problem and what they do, but time is running out for High Sierra support.

My testing, while not exhaustive, has been comprehensive. Utilizing three different Macs of varying age, configuration, updates, software, users, and Apple IDs.

Everything folks have suggested I have tried, with one exception. That exception was the formating with APFS instead of HFS+, which still doesn't work. So, the issue...

...is not hardware, so forget about how your Mac is rigged.

...seems isolated to High Sierra and the App Store apps.

...does not present on other macOS or OS X versions.

...seems to affect about 80% of apps tested.

...presents as a crash report, or a message that it is broken or incomplete, or nothing happens at all.

...maybe related to the type of app it is (32/64-bit, App Nap support, etc)

...crash reports all indicate code sign error.

Best Scientific Wild *** Guesses...

Something changed recently in App Store in regards to how apps are delivered and installed. It seems to correspond to the introduction of macOS 11 Big Sur and the imminent drop of future support for High Sierra (possible end of the year?). I'm not surprised because macOS 11 is a dramatic departure from the previous iterations with processor and software support for 64-bit Intel and ARM. Apple Silicon may be related.

In an effort to have only apps appear in the Big Sur App Store that will run on that new OS there may be something unintentionally affecting the app's appearance and function via the High Sierra App Store. Pure speculation... Apple is using the digital signing of apps to manage and control what the App Store presents to users of Big Sur and did not adequately test the impact on High Sierra because speculation is that High Sierra support drops and the end of this month (November).

Additional Observations...

I noted that when scrolling through the 'Purchased' page of the High Sierra App Store that some of the apps don't link to their product page but do in the Big Sur App Store. Example: SketchBook Express was added to my account in 2011 and is still listed in my Purchased items in the High Sierra App Store and in the Big Sur App Store. However, the behaviour is different:

• Big Sur App Store - I CAN load the product detail page but CAN NOT install SketchBook Express (make sense, this app probably needs to be updated by dev);

• High Sierra App Store - I CAN NOT load the product detail page but CAN install SketchBook Express (doesn't make sense because it installs and runs fine).

Another example is TextWrangler from way back.

• Big Sur App Store - I CAN load the product detail page but CAN NOT install TextWrangler (make sense, DOES need to be updated by dev);

• High Sierra App Store - I CAN NOT load the product detail page but CAN install TextWrangler (doesn't make sense it installs but doesn't run).

I'm starting to see that it is not widespread. A handful of apps work, but the vast majority don't work anymore in High Sierra after the change last week. On Wednesday last week, one of my favourite apps, the Magnet app from CrowdCafé was updated and worked on my old installation of High Sierra. On Thursday after the complete rebuild of the computer with a clean install of High Sierra the Magnet app doesn't work along with dozens and dozens of App Store apps I use. So Sad :(

Current discussions I'm aware of are:

der-Josh 

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252032870

PeterPeterPeterPeter

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252030900

GrenadeBait

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252037712

(I wish I could change the title of mine because this has nothing to do with SSDs and HDDs.

this is not a perfect solution. however, it is a temporary solution for recent issues.

entering command+shift+g in finder activates go to the folder.

enter /Library/Keychains/crls/

delete or rename the "valid.sqilite3" file.

my opinion is that all apps recently installed by high sierra are having problems due to an error in authentication problems caused by the keychain.

as said at the outset, this is a temporary solution. If the same problem is repeated, repeat the solution.

-Sean

Does that fix stick across a reboot? I got a feeling it won't. We have found a pretty good workaround in another thread. Start from around this comment: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252037712?answerId=253981944022#253981944022

Same problem, try this:

reformat hdd and reinstall High Sierra 10.13.6, but "WAIT" to do all updates.

Download "Security Update 2020-004 (High Sierra)" from https://support.apple.com/kb/DL2046?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

and manually install it.

There's a bug too in this manual update, when Mac reboot you see a black screen, the solution is to press ALT button on the reboot and select the system partition, now is installed.

Now you can install all the others High Sierra updates from MAC APP STORE and the apps (Pages, Numbers, Keynote......) works.

Yes the code signing for all the apps seems fine, but there is something happening under hood when App Store is talking back to the ocsp servers. Using three different techniques from other discussions to get the Apps running the eventually fail after about an hour once the check is made with the OCSP servers.

I've downgraded to Sierra also for the time being and its working great, with the exception if iTunes which would not sync the iCloud music library. when I tried iTunes/Music on other macOS versions it was the same story, no syncing. Apple has some troubles going on on the back end....imo

If this was an Apple kill switch then it would affect others systems. I initially tested the code signing error in High Sierra and then looked for it in Mojava and Catalina; they were fine. But then I was surprised that the error was NOT present in macOS going all the way back to Mavericks. It's just High Sierra.

I just tried another reformat and High Sierra install, and the problem persists for me. All app store apps crash immediately with a code signing error: CSSMERR_TP_CERT_REVOKED .

Please file bugs on this issue: https://feedbackassistant.apple.com

I filed one yesterday but it hasn't been updated yet. A wave of duplicate bug reports will help convince Apple the problem’s on their end (which it is.)

Update:

I found a workaround for Pages, Keynote and Numbers. It’s a little bit annoying and probably not worth the work, yet I just wanted to mention it.

If you have El Capitan on another drive or mac you can copy pages from it and paste it in your High Sierra application folder. Then run said terminal command and it will open - which surprises me a little bit. Now you can use pages, yet it’s the “El Capitan version”, so not the latest version for High Sierra.

Other ‘apple apps’ I managed to get working now (with said terminal command) that didn’t before are iMovie and Garage Band.

Didn't read the whole thing but basically the issue is something wrong on Apple's backend with certification handling. A temporary fix is doing the following:

1. From a clean reboot, run in terminal "spctl --assess -v /Applications/YourApp.app"

2. From a Finder window, under Applications, right-click (Ctrl-Click) on your app, and select "Signer Info"

3. Enjoy your app

But this may not work for more than a few hours or a reboot or something.

There are other temp solutions if you must get an application to work, but this is an issue Apple will need to fix.

I just wanted to add that this discussion topic is related to one I inadvertently started around the same time.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252037712?answerId=253880193022&login=true&page=1

Current and future followers may find both helpful.

Cheers!

JUST AN FYI...!

I just completed an install of the much older macOS Mavericks using the exact same procedure as described in another discussion thread for my High Sierra install

The App Store apps are working in Mavericks!

pininfrna is right please do file a report https://feedbackassistant.apple.com

Also, if you're continuing to test, please always let crash reporter send the apps crash information to Apple.

High Sierra is currently still an Apple supported operating system.

So far no solution has worked (for me at least) with pages, keynote or numbers.

The codesign terminal command has worked with some applications!

But with pages, keynote and numbers it crashes as soon as I want to create a new document.

I think Apple fixed it on their end!

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252037712?answerId=254090675022#254090675022