Understanding "xpc.roleaccountd.staging" observed during iOS shutdown

I had not came here searching for validation, I appreciate that if you believe that I’m wrong you can explain with forensic methodology however you like otherwise if you can’t then avoid comments . I started to have very strange behavior across devices and accounts around April, I was not maybe a regular/normal person but I promise Im not relevant for you, my life changed and I know exactly who and why and I might be just another girl but yes I had a terrible habit to date people who can afford this attacks, about July I decided I could get trough it, I started studying forensics did mvt (9devices-iocsdetected), yara etc stopped using iPhones because I was not able even to keep one without this problem, when I said this problem I mean, my iPhones will act incredibly abnormal and whenever I wanted to show somebody else it would be gone, yes nobody believed me till I started using qube os airgapped and will fail to run whenever doing forensics then never run again, tails (version debug even though I try downloading from distinct devices and locations ) at some point I was by device 20 and tired of not finding any solution even graphene os with efani was irrelevant when you have SS7 attacks, the phone never worked again till complete restoration but still in my case, graphene is more secure than iOS sorry. I’m working on proof of this now ; that lockdown mode can be used arbitrarily. I don’t gonna explain why this is relevant or Why this is part of a sophisticated APT if you understand why “xpc.roleaccountd.staging” in the shutdown log on iOS is relevant we can talk more, I was just a normal girl before this now I’m a freaky who speend all the time learning about this, I don’t mind it, I actually liked it even tought being in this side of the attack isn’t cool. btw I’m ready to discuss this with someone who wants the truth and maybe a bounty Hunter Id be here waiting. This photos are from a sysdiagnose taken from a iPhone 16plus and 14promax using the latest iOS version at the moment I have a couple of hypotheses about the chain of exploit they have used, however when talking about SE you think if you get permanent failure then not communication should be established, so I found very interesting how it still happened at this point I will say it’s hard to believe anything when I see logs I have to look for multiple connections and map them out in real time device activity, so it has been very interesting to see how before and after dfu in real time console(streaming to Mac)it was constantly being captured Apple threat notification but never showed any signs on the device itself so I’m guessing btw it’s made up by the attackers or it’s being hidden by them any way possible to explain this happening for me could no be considered as harmless however will like to hear your explanation


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Investigating “xpc.roleaccountd.staging” on shutdown log, is this a Sign of a sofisticated attack? Help me understand why this happened


iPhone 16 Plus

Posted on Feb 5, 2026 3:16 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 6, 2026 4:25 AM

  • I just did, I'm irrelevant for you and for almost anyone in here, I also did had evidence of the previous mentioned incident on my devices and I have experienced plenty of where they ruined my data and even felt like they joke about it, I scared to even say in what public ambit is related to and again this might be a bad idea but I don't imagine what else would happen at this point. I explained just a little I'm trying to avoid no sense confronting. When I say forensic explication this is my point :

The directory /private/var/db/com.apple.xpc.roleaccountd.staging/ is a legitimate staging area used by Apple's xpcroleaccountd service (part of libxpc / XPC launchd mechanisms). It handles temporary/root-privileged XPC service staging, including during system updates or special operations.

On a clean device, this directory is not typically active or visible in shutdown logs during normal reboots. Shutdown.log records processes that fail to terminate gracefully during shutdown/reboot benign system daemons usually exit cleanly without leaving persistent traces here.

However, multiple spyware families (notably Pegasus from NSO Group in certain variants from ~2019–2022+, PredatorReign/KingsPawn from QuaDream, and others) have explicitly abused this exact path to stage and launch payloads:

They drop executables or extensions into /private/var/db/com.apple.xpc.roleaccountd.staging/ (or subfolders like /exec/, /PlugIns/) to masquerade as system processes.

This allows root-level execution while evading some monitoring, because the path is SIP-protected but accessible via entitlements in xpcroleaccountd.

During reboot, if these staged processes don't exit properly (common with malware that hooks deep or persists), they appear as "remaining client pid" entries in shutdown.log , exactly like the repeated lines you're seeing (e.g., pid 842 tied to that path).

This pattern was documented in:

-Amnesty International's 2021 Pegasus forensic report (processes like roleaccountd and stagingd appearing after suspicious iMessage lookups).

-Kaspersky's 2024 analysis on using shutdown.log as a lightweight detection method for iOS malware — they explicitly call out this path as a Pegasus trace.

-Citizen Lab reports on Reign/QuaDream exploits using the same staging folder.

-iVerify's 2025 notes on Pegasus/Predator IOCs in shutdown.log (including variants with /com.apple.WebKit.Networking under this path).


19 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 6, 2026 4:25 AM in response to Servant of Cats

  • I just did, I'm irrelevant for you and for almost anyone in here, I also did had evidence of the previous mentioned incident on my devices and I have experienced plenty of where they ruined my data and even felt like they joke about it, I scared to even say in what public ambit is related to and again this might be a bad idea but I don't imagine what else would happen at this point. I explained just a little I'm trying to avoid no sense confronting. When I say forensic explication this is my point :

The directory /private/var/db/com.apple.xpc.roleaccountd.staging/ is a legitimate staging area used by Apple's xpcroleaccountd service (part of libxpc / XPC launchd mechanisms). It handles temporary/root-privileged XPC service staging, including during system updates or special operations.

On a clean device, this directory is not typically active or visible in shutdown logs during normal reboots. Shutdown.log records processes that fail to terminate gracefully during shutdown/reboot benign system daemons usually exit cleanly without leaving persistent traces here.

However, multiple spyware families (notably Pegasus from NSO Group in certain variants from ~2019–2022+, PredatorReign/KingsPawn from QuaDream, and others) have explicitly abused this exact path to stage and launch payloads:

They drop executables or extensions into /private/var/db/com.apple.xpc.roleaccountd.staging/ (or subfolders like /exec/, /PlugIns/) to masquerade as system processes.

This allows root-level execution while evading some monitoring, because the path is SIP-protected but accessible via entitlements in xpcroleaccountd.

During reboot, if these staged processes don't exit properly (common with malware that hooks deep or persists), they appear as "remaining client pid" entries in shutdown.log , exactly like the repeated lines you're seeing (e.g., pid 842 tied to that path).

This pattern was documented in:

-Amnesty International's 2021 Pegasus forensic report (processes like roleaccountd and stagingd appearing after suspicious iMessage lookups).

-Kaspersky's 2024 analysis on using shutdown.log as a lightweight detection method for iOS malware — they explicitly call out this path as a Pegasus trace.

-Citizen Lab reports on Reign/QuaDream exploits using the same staging folder.

-iVerify's 2025 notes on Pegasus/Predator IOCs in shutdown.log (including variants with /com.apple.WebKit.Networking under this path).


Feb 5, 2026 5:10 PM in response to Dontworrybebunny

This looks like a false alarm.


Google search bought up an AI summary claiming that that folder has been involved in sophisticated malware attacks. However, AI answers have been known to be very plausible-sounding at the same time that they are completely wrong. Just because there might (or might not) be a vulnerability in a system service or file is not "proof" that all uses of that system service or file are the result of a malware attack!


The AI summary did have a CVE reference.


NIST – National Vulnerability Database – CVE-2023-42942 Detail

"This issue was addressed with improved handling of symlinks. This issue is fixed in watchOS 10.1, macOS Sonoma 14.1, tvOS 17.1, iOS 16.7.2 and iPadOS 16.7.2, iOS 17.1 and iPadOS 17.1, macOS Ventura 13.6.1. A malicious app may be able to gain root privileges."


A blog that I found elsewhere described the issue in more detail. The xrpcroleaccountd service is a legitimate system service, with root privileges, but there was a race condition bug that could be exploited.


Apple released two security updates that addressed this bug.


About the security content of iOS 16.7.2 and iPadOS 16.7.2 - Apple Support

About the security content of iOS 17.1 and iPadOS 17.1 - Apple Support


Both have a libxpc section that refers to CVE-2023-42942 and says the same thing that the NIST article does regarding the fix. Presumably the fix is in all releases of iOS 18 and iOS 26.


The OP's tag line says that he or she has an iPhone 16 Plus. That phone first shipped with iOS 18.0.


Can you say wild goose chase?


Feb 6, 2026 4:03 AM in response to Servant of Cats

I understand that says to be patched but it showed while my phone was still on 18.2.1 (I think it was) so you're telling me that because of the patch it's inoffensive or it shouldn't exist? Because I have by understanding that this shouldn't even show on shutdown log with different pid I just find very strange how it shows persistence (in my reasoning since seems to be killed and instantly re-generated ) and another very important thing, I know xpcroleaccountd is a real iOS process more seen in mdm devices than regular but not "xpc.roleaccountd" with the "." Is relevant since it doesn't exist you can check amnesty 2021 first ever public report about Pegasus almost final on the page you can se a small comparison of the spoofed binaries how they will imitate legitimate iOS processes and you will see clearly "xpc.roleaccountd " spoofed agains the real "xpcroleaccountd " however I'm not based myself on just this one log I have no a easy way to explain this whole year but multiple mvt (in 9 devices 4 were iPhone ) had given the result IOCs detected I just literal dfu this phone and I have created a brand new account in a less than a week look at this 2 nights ago I feel like the first time this happened to me like 20/30 min where my phone won't respond I have 30 photos in total I'm using last update not beta, on a Apple 14promax 256 that I bought myself from Apple and has not hardware issues I don't know how it explain that after dfu I was texting only one person and it won't open the app it will show black in messages I reboot and same thing I finally decided to l it of for 20/30 min and it was this same like sensation the phone out of nowhere started to get hot and also I want to add I don't even have apps I just use safari (no mdm no beta software no vpn profile)

Feb 5, 2026 4:08 PM in response to Dontworrybebunny

If Apple is going to advise you of a Threat Notification, it is seen when signing into your Apple Account along with when the notification was sent.

About Apple threat notifications and protecting against mercenary spyware - Apple Support


You don't need to prove to us that you are a victim of an attack, just like we would never be able to convince you that you are not. If you have any doubt Factory Reset your phone and do not restore from a backup. If you don't believe that will solve your problem, then you are going to need to hire a security specialist that is beyond the scope of anything you would find here. If you do find a security breach, then you can report that here:

Report a security or privacy vulnerability - Apple Support


Feb 5, 2026 5:18 PM in response to Dontworrybebunny

The /private/var/db/com.apple.xpc.roleaccountd.staging/ folder was reportedly used by some versions of Pegasus, though the daemon is also an expected and normal part of macOS. And that folder usage was several years and a lifetime ago.


Ongoing issues and your assumption that mercenary tooling means you are far outside the sort of assistance that can be offered here.


This having gone through twenty (!?) devices and with efforts toward air-gapping and other operating systems and the rest all means things here aren’t working as you might expect or might hope, too. Including your response, and your perceived risks.


Whether there are issues in these acreenshots?


This all means direct local assistance. Not forum postings.


What Apple has posted, and which you’ve undoubtedly already read:


Feb 5, 2026 5:42 PM in response to Dontworrybebunny

Dontworrybebunny wrote:

I had not came here searching for validation, I appreciate that if you believe that I’m wrong you can explain with forensic methodology however you like otherwise if you can’t then avoid comments .


I'm sorry, but you do not have the right to prevent anyone from posting unless they can "explain with forensic methodology."


even though I try downloading from distinct devices and locations ) at some point I was by device 20 and tired of not finding any solution even graphene os with efani was irrelevant when you have SS7 attacks


If people have actually "hacked" you across TWENTY different systems, running multiple operating systems – despite your suspicions of a "sofisticated attack", you need much more help than you can expect to get, free.


That will involve hiring cybersecurity professionals with a very high level of training or experience. That will be extremely expensive as you will be paying people who earn very high salaries to spend lots and lots of time on whatever problem you have – or think you have. An experienced cybersecurity pro might earn $150K per year. That's just for a full-time job. The rate that a firm would charge clients would likely be higher.


If you are someone who is "of interest" to Vladmir Putin, Kim Jong Un, etc., then you may want to consider the following features.

About Lockdown Mode - Apple Support

Use Advanced Data Protection for your iCloud data - Apple Support


I don’t gonna explain why this is relevant or Why this is part of a sophisticated APT if you understand why “xpc.roleaccountd.staging” in the shutdown log on iOS is relevant we can talk more


Maybe if you did the legwork that I did, you would have discovered that Apple fixed the vulnerability described in the CVE before your iPhone 16 Plus even came out.

Feb 6, 2026 4:33 AM in response to Dontworrybebunny

Dontworrybebunny wrote:

No trying to convince you or nobody here but what I have went through is rea


If it is real, you need to hire a cybersecurity expert. Not go onto Support forums with huge run-on paragraphs, and pieces of log dumps, that are too much trouble for almost anyone to read.


I now, don't believe it to be impossible to hack someone else phone


All complex systems of any size have bugs. That doesn't mean that they are easy to exploit or that someone is going to go to the trouble and expense of "hacking" TWENTY different systems, of different types, unless you happen to be a very high-value target. Like someone in possession of nuclear secrets..


Just to ensure you have a bigger picture I might be exposing myself to say this but this started right after a situation that ended on a arrest even if was short term (3/4hours) I was still in shock and I was going to explain my reaction and my version of the situation , however this never came through and if I tell my story nobody will ever believe me, if you search my name you probably will see a missing person event around July in Los Angeles, I can't claim direct attribution but I just know that everything that happened to me was absurdly favorable to them ( this person and his lawyers who in the past were pretty much trying to make me sign an nda) I really feel like I have loose all type of privacy, and to be honest I even think it's looking into my screen now or it has real time triggers/automations, what you do when the adversary has motive and is extremely rich?


If you are a target of someone like that, and they have an unreasonable vendetta against you, you will need a lot more help than you can get here, and not just from cybersecurity experts.

Feb 5, 2026 3:27 PM in response to Dontworrybebunny

Dontworrybebunny wrote:

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/2b5ef160-018f-47af-9cef-1360171d5be3

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/7464365d-1f7a-4916-8a71-752b048d8348
I had not came here searching for validation, I appreciate that if you believe that I’m wrong you can explain with forensic methodology however you like otherwise if you can’t then avoid comments . I started to have very strange behavior across devices and accounts around April, I was not maybe a regular/normal person but I promise Im not relevant for you, my life changed and I know exactly who and why and I might be just another girl but yes I had a terrible habit to date people who can afford this attacks, about July I decided I could get trough it, I started studying forensics did mvt (9devices-iocsdetected), yara etc stopped using iPhones because I was not able even to keep one without this problem, when I said this problem I mean, my iPhones will act incredibly abnormal and whenever I wanted to show somebody else it would be gone, yes nobody believed me till I started using qube os airgapped and will fail to run whenever doing forensics then never run again, tails (version debug even though I try downloading from distinct devices and locations ) at some point I was by device 20 and tired of not finding any solution even graphene os with efani was irrelevant when you have SS7 attacks, the phone never worked again till complete restoration but still in my case, graphene is more secure than iOS sorry. I’m working on proof of this now ; that lockdown mode can be used arbitrarily. I don’t gonna explain why this is relevant or Why this is part of a sophisticated APT if you understand why “xpc.roleaccountd.staging” in the shutdown log on iOS is relevant we can talk more, I was just a normal girl before this now I’m a freaky who speend all the time learning about this, I don’t mind it, I actually liked it even tought being in this side of the attack isn’t cool. btw I’m ready to discuss this with someone who wants the truth and maybe a bounty Hunter Id be here waiting. This photos are from a sysdiagnose taken from a iPhone 16plus and 14promax using the latest iOS version at the moment
https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/5d467c2c-51c6-4b70-b90b-54bb6d781c63
I have a couple of hypotheses about the chain of exploit they have used, however when talking about SE you think if you get permanent failure then not communication should be established, so I found very interesting how it still happened
https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/72e280bf-8216-464b-b42f-4f43b969497e
at this point I will say it’s hard to believe anything when I see logs I have to look for multiple connections and map them out in real time device activity, so it has been very interesting to see how before and after dfu in real time console(streaming to Mac)it was constantly being captured Apple threat notification but never showed any signs on the device itself so I’m guessing btw it’s made up by the attackers or it’s being hidden by them any way possible to explain this happening for me could no be considered as harmless however will like to hear your explanation
https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/0215804a-3181-49b7-902b-a4e80badc720

Nobody in these user to user technical can tell you what those logs means.

There are no known virus/spyware/malware/hack for a non jailbroken Apple devices.

Feb 5, 2026 3:47 PM in response to razmee209

I appreciate your comment but I disagree with you based on purely reports and research “There are not known virus for a non jailbreak device” non of my iPhones have ever been jailbreak . Regardless you can have a look at literal what means this logs in forensic reports and has been very much helpful for me to catch because im based on forensic reports that have used it as proof of concept when they found purely spyware mercenary like amnesty kaspersky for Pegasus, Quadra dream etc. Either way I don’t say it was a simple thing I saw repeatedly and persistent attacks happen on real time like imagine how open a log from sysdiagnose will cause buffer overflow??? Or the previous mentioned blastdoor , how emoticons and I found this very interesting because when I found out emoticons can have code embedded in metadata using Unicode and other symptoms of the problem was just clear and a click on my mind and I call this for what it is APT not. Just a virus but a complex problem that usually uses multiple viruses and exploits constantly till vulnerability is found, and it might will loose access or entitlement sometimes with updates fixes reboots but in my case has being very persistent

Feb 6, 2026 3:30 AM in response to Servant of Cats

No trying to convince you or nobody here but what I have went through is real, I know there's many of users saying exactly this and I believe that probably more of what you imagine are true, maybe not in depth but, I now, don't believe it to be impossible to hack someone else phone and I have tried with small things, where human error is key that have work mostly, not even for damage but to understand how and what "they" were doing and how. Just to ensure you have a bigger picture I might be exposing myself to say this but this started right after a situation that ended on a arrest even if was short term (3/4hours) I was still in shock and I was going to explain my reaction and my version of the situation , however this never came through and if I tell my story nobody will ever believe me, if you search my name you probably will see a missing person event around July in Los Angeles, I can't claim direct attribution but I just know that everything that happened to me was absurdly favorable to them ( this person and his lawyers who in the past were pretty much trying to make me sign an nda) I really feel like I have loose all type of privacy, and to be honest I even think it's looking into my screen now or it has real time triggers/automations, what you do when the adversary has motive and is extremely rich?

when you have someone that not only have money but power contacts and you represent them the possibility of go ja** .

I just started to live with it, luckily it has become more manageable, studying apt ,mitre attacks, class in kali, and I love to read reports of mobile forensics , I'm just recovering a minimum of my life now , so I don't hope you to believe me but I have seen comments like mine before where people say answers are "you have nothing those are just logs for engineers " but they don't understand how it feels when you phone seems to be harras*ng you, is very hard to explain , however I started to like this life, the exploits observable and trying to reverse engineer to see how to reproduce what they do to me, and now is what I want to study :) Is the first time I post here too you can check this handle on instagram and my name real that's it I don't care pretty much if people can't help me because I wasn't even expecting more than just discussing it to see other people's perspective, and it's great, I just feel good to speak about this with other's

Feb 6, 2026 4:43 AM in response to stedman1

stedman1 wrote:

As there is no amount of evidence or advice that anyone here could provide to alter your distorted perception of what is happening, I would seriously advise you to immediately stop using all electronic devices.


I'm reminded of an editorial-style cartoon where a man and a woman were walking down a sidewalk.


One of them asked the other something to the effect, "Do you think that computers have become too intrusive?"


A voice from a nearby ATM said "NO!" ;-)

Feb 6, 2026 12:44 PM in response to Dontworrybebunny

You’re alleging what can be considered criminal activities in various jurisdictions, or potentially espionage.


These are serious claims.


Were you to summarize your report, and distill your reported evidence of being targeted by what is immensely-expensive exploit tooling, and of reoccurring or potentially persistent compromises, we're not the appropriate audience for presenting any of this, and never have been.


And I must wonder why you still use any of this gear, given how thoroughly, persistently, and ubiquitously you report it all compromised, too.

Understanding "xpc.roleaccountd.staging" observed during iOS shutdown

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