sshd (openssh) "would like to access data from other apps"

[jonwilts]

Output of brew config

jon@mini (~) % brew config
HOMEBREW_VERSION: 4.5.4
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: 54c8b127ea2263fbbaf1354e3d8d86025e387ea6
Last commit: 5 days ago
Branch: stable
Core tap: N/A
Core cask tap: N/A
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /opt/homebrew
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS: []
HOMEBREW_EDITOR: /Users/jon/.bin/neovim
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 8
Homebrew Ruby: 3.4.4 => /opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/3.4.4/bin/ruby
CPU: octa-core 64-bit arm_firestorm_icestorm
Clang: 17.0.0 build 1700
Git: 2.39.5 => /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin/git
Curl: 8.7.1 => /usr/bin/curl
macOS: 15.5-arm64
CLT: 16.4.0.0.1.1747106510
Xcode: 16.4
Rosetta 2: false

Output of brew doctor

Warning: Putting non-prefixed coreutils in your path can cause GMP builds to fail.

Warning: Unbrewed dylibs were found in /usr/local/lib.
If you didn't put them there on purpose they could cause problems when
building Homebrew formulae and may need to be deleted.

Unexpected dylibs:
  /usr/local/lib/libgcc_s.1.1.dylib
  /usr/local/lib/libvidstab.1.2.dylib

Warning: Unbrewed header files were found in /usr/local/include.
If you didn't put them there on purpose they could cause problems when
building Homebrew formulae and may need to be deleted.

Unexpected header files:
  /usr/local/include/aom/*
  /usr/local/include/libavcodec/*
  /usr/local/include/libavdevice/*
  /usr/local/include/libavfilter/*
  /usr/local/include/libavformat/*
  /usr/local/include/libavutil/*
  /usr/local/include/libpostproc/*
  /usr/local/include/libswresample/*
  /usr/local/include/libswscale/*
  /usr/local/include/vid.stab/*

Warning: Unbrewed '.pc' files were found in /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig.
If you didn't put them there on purpose they could cause problems when
building Homebrew formulae and may need to be deleted.

Unexpected '.pc' files:
  /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/aom.pc
  /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/libavcodec.pc
  /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/libavdevice.pc
  /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/libavfilter.pc
  /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/libavformat.pc
  /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/libavutil.pc
  /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/libpostproc.pc
  /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/libswresample.pc
  /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/libswscale.pc
  /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/vidstab.pc

Warning: Unbrewed static libraries were found in /usr/local/lib.
If you didn't put them there on purpose they could cause problems when
building Homebrew formulae and may need to be deleted.

Unexpected static libraries:
  /usr/local/lib/libaom.a
  /usr/local/lib/libavcodec.a
  /usr/local/lib/libavdevice.a
  /usr/local/lib/libavfilter.a
  /usr/local/lib/libavformat.a
  /usr/local/lib/libavutil.a
  /usr/local/lib/libpostproc.a
  /usr/local/lib/libswresample.a
  /usr/local/lib/libswscale.a

Warning: Homebrew's "sbin" was not found in your PATH but you have installed
formulae that put executables in /opt/homebrew/sbin.
Consider setting your PATH for example like so:
  echo 'export PATH="/opt/homebrew/sbin:$PATH"' >> /Users/jon/.bash_profile

Description of issue

Not really a bug - I think everything is working as it should - but it's annoying!

I'm running sshd from Homebrew's openssh:

==> openssh: stable 9.9p2 (bottled)
OpenBSD freely-licensed SSH connectivity tools
https://www.openssh.com/
Installed
/opt/homebrew/Cellar/openssh/9.9p2 (47 files, 6.7MB) *
  Poured from bottle using the formulae.brew.sh API on 2025-05-13 at 13:47:37
From: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/HEAD/Formula/o/openssh.rb
License: SSH-OpenSSH
==> Dependencies
Build: pkgconf ✔
Required: ldns ✔, libfido2 ✔, openssl@3 ✔
==> Analytics
install: 4,397 (30 days), 16,700 (90 days), 78,010 (365 days)
install-on-request: 4,397 (30 days), 16,692 (90 days), 77,978 (365 days)
build-error: 202 (30 days)

and I'm able to successfully login to my mac from a remote server. All good. However, every so often I'm prevented from doing something via my remote shell, and upon checking the physical system I see a dialog saying something like ' "sshd" would like to access data from other apps.' with approve or deny buttons.

Understanding all of the risks involved, is there a way of whitelisting sshd so that these sorts of dialog don't appear?

Thanks.

[SMillerDev]

There is not, this is a macOS security measure that is only controlled by those dialogs as far as I know.

[viking1304]

@jonwilts I think I have a solution for you.

I gave Full Disk Access right to sshd

1. In Finder, press Shift + Command + G
2. Type /usr/sbin/
3. Drag sshd into the Full Disk Access pane

Then I enabled it and did few quick tests. I successfully connected from both localhost and other mac without triggering any warnings.

Let me know if this works as you want, since I just did a few quick tests.