Auto-enable of Content Filter on macOS (after pushing required MDM payloads)

Hi all,

I'm working on a small PoC to get Content Filtering (FilterDataProvider) working on macOS without any user interaction.

So far, I've pushed two payloads to my machine using user-approved MDM enrollment:

  • com.apple.system-extension-policy
  • com.apple.webcontent-filter

The application containing the network extension is present in /Applications.

The installation of the profiles both succeed and I can see a Content Filter is created in the Network section of System Settings. Even the status says "Enabled", but the dot remains orange.

Inspecing the system logs (specifically: filtering on process:neagent) shows me the following error:

1. Failed to find a com.apple.networkextension.filter-data extension inside of app com.my.app.containing.the.ext

Only when I submit an activation request using OSSystemExtensionRequest.activationRequest, the network extension starts (without prompts, as expected) and everything works.

Is this expected behaviour? Do I need to submit an activation request through code regardless of the fact that MDM pre-approved the System Extension prompts and created the Content Filter in the System Settings?

Auto-enable of Content Filter on macOS (after pushing required MDM payloads)
 
 
Q