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Alex White
Legend
April 18, 2025

ZXPSignCmd sign process is broken (segmentation fault)

  • April 18, 2025
  • 36 replies
  • 4480 views
Looks like the ZXP sign process is broken both on macOS and Windows.
  • macOS: Signing process ends with: [1] 21894 segmentation fault ./ZXPSignCmd -sign mypassword -tsa
  • Window: just fails with no error
 
  1. Command that fails:  ./ZXPSignCmd -sign "/Users/admin/Desktop/extension/dist/cep" "/Users/admin/Desktop/extension/dist/zxp/com.my.extension.cep.zxp" "/Users/admin/Desktop/extension/lib/.tmp/com.my.extension.cep-cert.p12" mypassword -tsa http://timestamp.digicert.com/
  2. None of the environments nor macOS nor Windows has changed. It just worked yesterday and today it's not.
  3. ZXPSignCmd has proper executable rights
  4. Tried changing timestamp servers
  5. Tried using different network connection
  6. Verified with different repos/tools
  7. Tested on ARM/x64 macOS, ARM/x64 Windows. All fail to sign
  8. Confirmed the same behavior by many devs

36 replies

Inspiring
April 22, 2025

Some is doing something, because apple timestamp no longer works, failing this time with a different error:

```

libc++abi: terminating due to uncaught exception of type boost::filesystem::filesystem_error: boost::filesystem::copy_file: File exists: "/tmp/zxpsignaOXSxzWIDPHbj6r0/tmp.zxp",

```

Ivan Stepanov
Legend
April 22, 2025

@Justin Taylor-Hyper Brew indeed on Windows ZXPSignCmd doesn't work!

 

Here is an update on the working solutions, based on my tests.

 

Working timestamps:

 

Windows solution:

 

SignAndPackage worked with both timestamp.apple.com and tss.accv.es timestamps on Windows, so it seems that option B is correct.

quote
B: Something is patched in ZXPSignCmd 4.1.2 to allow this, but since there was never a 4.1.2 version published for Windows, we're stuck with a bug on 4.1.1

By  @Justin Taylor-Hyper Brew

 

Henrique - TMMW
Participating Frequently
April 22, 2025

+1 waiting for a windows solution

Henrique \ TMMW
Inspiring
April 22, 2025

Yes, the failures with DigiCert are the most concerning issue here. I'm just suggesting that using Apple is not really a fix due to Windows not trusting that root certificate. Even if you sign on a Mac, I'm not sure that Adobe will trust that timestamp on Windows. Then again, Adobe seems to trust self-signed certificates if you install a panel manually so maybe they don't care about the timestamp's root certificate, outside of ZXPSignCmd.
Hopefully signing with DigiCert will work again soon.

Justin Taylor-Hyper Brew
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 21, 2025

That may be part of the issue, but there must be more involed since other TSAs besides DigiCert used to work and now none of them work except Apple on Apple.

Inspiring
April 21, 2025

I believe the Apple timestamps are failing on Windows because the OS doesn't trust Apple's root certificate.

 

Softmatic GmbH
Participant
April 21, 2025

Did some more testing and http://timestamp.apple.com/ts01 worked for us on macOS, thanks to @Ivan Stepanov. All other timestamp servers resulted in either seg faults or "Error - cannot contact the chosen TSA". Adobe should open source this tool ASAP.

Justin Taylor-Hyper Brew
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 21, 2025

Great find @Ivan Stepanov, I'm glad that we have a working soluion for MacOS!

 

Unfortunately after testing on 14 different TSAs (from StackOverflow and and Davide), the problem still persists on Windows and on MacOS with any other non-apple TSA. (see full testing details below)

 

My guesses are either:

 

A: There is some speical access for Apple-to-Apple timestampping that allows the Apple TSA to work on Macs, but all others are broken

or

B: Something is patched in ZXPSignCmd 4.1.2 to allow this, but since there was never a 4.1.2 version published for Windows, we're stuck with a bug on 4.1.1

 

All ZXPSignCmd Versions (latest Win: 4.1.1, latest Mac: 4.1.2) 

 

It's great we have a solution for Mac, but lots of users, workflows, and build systems rely on Windows as well, so we need working solutions for both.

 

As @Softmatic GmbH and @Alex White have pointed out, it is possible to create a ZXP by omitting the TSA, however this comes with an expiration date, though "supposedly" far in the future, from the Adobe documentation in SigningTechNote.pdf sounds like it could break sooner without warning:

 

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Full testing details on Mac and PCs:

 

Works on MacOS but not Windows

Both OS's report: Error - the timestamp returned from the chosen TSA could not be verified, so the ZXP created s likely to be rejected by other tools. Please recreate your ZXP with a different trusted TSA.

Both OS's report: Error: [cep] Command failed: ZXPSignCmd ...

Both OS's report: Error - cannot contact the chosen TSA. Please make sure the URL is valid and that you are onnected to the internet.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Known Participant
April 21, 2025

Confirmed - switching from Digicert to the Apple tsa worked for us: http://timestamp.apple.com/ts01

Participant
April 21, 2025

Using the Apple tsa fixed this issue for us as well. 
Thanks @Ivan Stepanov for the helpful clue. 

 

Agreed that Adobe should provide an open source option for ZXPSignCmd. This is a critical part of the pipeline so when it breaks it would be good to understand why.