secItemCopyMatching returns nil data

Question

First off, I have watched the WWDC 2013 session on protecting secrets with the keychain. I want to do a basic passcode store. Watched the whole video, but found what I needed in the first 10 minutes of the video. It seems straightforward, but I don't completely understand how the data encoding and retrieval works.

PROBLEM: after secItemCopyMatching, I check my NSData object to make sure it is not nil before converting it to a NSString. Problem is, it is always nil. Below is how I'm saving the keychain entry or update, followed by how I'm retrieving it. Any help and explanation would be very much appreciated.

UPDATE (EDITED): Fruity Geek, thanks for the response. I've updated my code below using __bridge. My problem now boils down to, am I storing and retrieving the password correctly? Have I got both wrong or just one or the other? My NSData instance is always nil. I am checking returns codes and my SecItemAdd and SecItemUpdate (when the keychaing entry exists) are working correctly. I can't seem to retrieve the string value of the data (passcode) stored to compare it with the passcode entered by the user. Appreciate the help guys and gals. Here is what I am doing now:

UPDATE #2: (Edited with Fruity Geek's answers and final working version. My edits only include changes to the code below.)

Set keychain entry:

NSData *secret = [_backupPassword dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSDictionary *query = @{
    (__bridge id)kSecClass: (__bridge id)kSecClassGenericPassword,
    (__bridge id)kSecAttrService: twServiceName,
    (__bridge id)kSecAttrAccount: twAccountName,
    (__bridge id)kSecValueData: secret,
};
OSStatus status =
    SecItemAdd((__bridge CFDictionaryRef)query, NULL);

if (status == errSecDuplicateItem) {
    // this item exists in the keychain already, update it
    query = @{
        (__bridge id)kSecClass: (__bridge id)kSecClassGenericPassword,
        (__bridge id)kSecAttrService: twServiceName,
        (__bridge id)kSecAttrAccount: twAccountName,
    };
    NSDictionary *changes = @{
        (__bridge id)kSecValueData: secret,
    };
    status = SecItemUpdate((__bridge CFDictionaryRef)query, (__bridge CFDictionaryRef)changes);
}

Retrieve password from keychain:

NSDictionary *query = @{
    (__bridge id)kSecClass: (__bridge id)kSecClassGenericPassword,
    (__bridge id)kSecAttrService: twServiceName,
    (__bridge id)kSecAttrAccount: twAccountName,
    (__bridge id)kSecReturnData: @YES,
};
NSData *data = NULL;
CFTypeRef dataTypeRef = (__bridge CFTypeRef)data;
OSStatus status =
    SecItemCopyMatching((__bridge CFDictionaryRef)query, &dataTypeRef);

NSData *data = (__bridge NSData *)dataTypeRef;

NSString *passcode = @"none";
if (status == errSecSuccess) {
    // we found a keychain entry, set the passcode
    if (data)
        passcode = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:[data bytes]];
}

twServiceName and twAccountName are static NSStrings.

As I said, I don't quite what I am doing with __bridge or CFTypeRef. I looked through apples docs, numerous posts here and other sites, but keychain and these terms are brand new to me and I'm still trying to figure it out. Hoping someone here can point out my error and help me understand. Thanks in advance for the help.

iOS 7 / Xcode 5

score 12 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:16

You don't own any of the Core Foundation objects (you didn't create or copy them) and you don't want to retain or release them, so CFBridgingRelease and CFBridgingRetainis incorrect. Use (__bridge id) instead whenever you want to cast to an Objective-C object.

(__bridge id)kSecAttrService

when should you use __bridge vs. CFBridgingRelease/CFBridgingRetain?

Your data variable and dataTypeRef are two distinct pointers. Only the dataTypeRef was filled with data in SecItemCopyMatching. Cast your CFTypeRef to NSData after it has been populated by SecItemCopyMatching so your data isn't always nil

CFTypeRef dataTypeRef = NULL;
OSStatus status = SecItemCopyMatching((__bridge CFDictionaryRef)query, &dataTypeRef);
NSData *data = (__bridge NSData *)dataTypeRef;

You should look more closely at the OSStatus returned by all your SecItem functions calls. There are many possible return codes that are not success. In your case, you are detecting a duplicate item in SecItemAdd - then updating it to the exact same item (doing nothing). Instead, you should try retrieving it first using SecItemCopyMatching. If no match is found, use SecItemAdd. If a match was found, use SecItemUpdate.

The example code from Apple is terrible, not written for ARC and confusing, but it exists. In particular, the writeToKeychain method is what you need. https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Security/Conceptual/keychainServConcepts/iPhoneTasks/iPhoneTasks.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30000897-CH208-SW1

Thank you. That helps clear up __bridge for me. I am checking the return code. I figured trying to add would achieve the result as secItemCopyMatching. Either the entry doesnt exist and the add works, or I get back errSecDuplicateItem in which case I update the entry with the password. — knarf, Oct 10 '13 at 04:34
Was too slow editing my previous post after I hit enter not realizing it would submit my post... My problem remains, am I encoding and storing the password correctly and how should I be retrieving it? After I store it, I attempt CopyMatching and pull the pssword back out, but my NSData instance is always nil. Let me update my code in the post... — knarf, Oct 10 '13 at 04:42
DOH! It's crystal now. Appreciate the help! Wish I could Vote Up your answer. — knarf, Oct 10 '13 at 06:00
btw, I think it is pretty obvious what you were saying, but you might want to correct the small typo in your last answer to avoid any confusion (data -> dataTypeRef): NSData *data = (__bridge NSData *)dataTypeRef; — knarf, Oct 10 '13 at 06:38

secItemCopyMatching returns nil data

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