SecurityAgent hangs when authorizing changes to Certificate Trust Settings

Thanks for this. Having the same issue with the Microsoft Remote Desktop Client (RDC). You pointing out that it clears for a bit after rebooting helped.

Now I just force quit SecurityAgent and get back to work. Not a fix, but quicker than a full reboot.

I had the same problem with 10.9.4 when connecting to our corporate WiFi. The WiFi network authentication uses server certificates that have the following signature chain:

- one of the server certificates

- intermediate cert: Cybertrust Public SureServer SV CA

- root cert: Baltimore CyberTrust Root

Apple has this root cert in the System Roots keychain, with System Default trust. The intermediate cert wasn't present in any of the keychains.

What I did to avoid the problem was to add both the intermediate cert and the root cert to the System keychain, and set trust levels for both to Always Trust. After this, the Certificate Trust Settings dialog no longer appears. But this is clearly only a workaround, not a fix for the problem of SecurityAgent locking up.

I do have the same problem, even with the latest OS X 10.10.1, and only with Microsoft Remote Desktop. It is extremely annoying is I need to perform a reboot in order to fix it.

Same problem, ms remote desktop 8.0.15, 10.10.3, macbook pro retina mid 2012.

Activity Monitor is stalling when I open it to force quit Security Agent. Is there a killall terminal command I can use? Is it as simple as sudo killall securityagent?

Anybody have a better long-term fix?

I'm having the same problem; it has happened to me on and off roughly forever.

Now, i'm on 10.10.3; today it happened when trying to accept a self-signed cert from a firewall I manage. Using Cisco ASDM app.

yes, sudo killall SecurityAgent (note capitalization) should do the trick.

I'm having exactly the same issue, still present in 10.10.3.

I have exactly the same problem when trying to accept a certificate for a Wifi service. What is requesting the certificate trust setting changes does not seem to be significant, it's that whole mechanism in OS X.

After about a week of this issue one day it suddenly didn't lock up and I was able to enter the password to accept this. All has been fine since!

This problem occurred in 10.10.3 in my case. I never had this problem before.

The system sucked at the password window.

Well I just added a few steps to your recap, I am under 10.10.4 and this keeps happening.

Problem persists in Yosemite (10.10.3). To recap, the workaround is this:

When you see the unknown certificate dialog:

1. Launch Activity Monitor
2. Scroll down to the "S" - although you won't see it you need to be where "SecurityAgent" will show up (sort by Process Name!)
3. Select "Always Trust" in the dialog then "Connect"
4. The user authorization dialogue will appear. If it doesn't lock up, fine… but if it doesn't:
5. Select "SecurityAgent" in the Activity Monitor and force quit.
6. Go to Keychain Access an find the certificate that caused the problem
7. Click the trust triangle and choose "Always Trust"
8. The dialog appears but this time Security Agent don't crash.
9. Authorize with your password, next time you open the service that generated the certificate it wont cry.

Note: You may have the same certificate for different services (mail or safari), you need to authorize the certificate for every single one.