trustd gone crazy? try this.

[nospamboz]

A couple of weeks ago trustd started hogging one of my cores. I tried the usual "delete System.keychain", but it didn't work. I also tried re-installing Mojave, which worked for a few days before trustd went crazy again.

Finally found a solution yesterday.

Mac trustd high CPU

The author mentions how the problem also affects handheld AppleOS devices, which can only be detected (and fixed) if they're jailbroken. He suspects it arrived with the security updates in late April, like 2021-003 for Mojave.

https://www.reddit.com/r/jailbreak/comments/ncfprs
The solution (deleting some sqlite3 files in /Library/Keychains/crls) also solved a problem I'd had for a long time, where Mojave would take 15 minutes or so to settle down after a boot with a bunch of daemons running. Now it takes only a few minutes.

The fact that the blog author fixed his system some time ago without the problem re-occurring (apparently) gives me hope that forcing the trustd sqlite clean-up is the right solution.

 

[madrich]

I found the files in macOS 10.14.6 and deleted them and they were instantly regenerated, then I rebooted. Activity Monitor now shows trusted %CPU down significantly from 99%, now 0%.

I also am leaving my iPhone and iPad alone for now. I hope Apple is reading these posts and will fix the problem accordingly.

 

[nospamboz]

I found the files in macOS 10.14.6 and deleted them and they were instantly regenerated, then I rebooted.

The blog author suggests doing the deletion in Recovery mode (or equivalently booted on an installer USB) so it's a cleaner process. The details are in his May 19 addendum toward the end of his post. Maybe worth doing it again right to be sure?

 

[madrich]

The blog author suggests doing the deletion in Recovery mode (or equivalently booted on an installer USB) so it's a cleaner process. The details are in his May 19 addendum toward the end of his post. Maybe worth doing it again right to be sure?

Thank you for your comment. While you are correct about the instructions, my trused process %CPU remains between very low and sometimes 0%. I will just leave well enough alone for now. However, my MBA performance also seems to be much better as well.

Update: After installing Mojave Security Update 2021-004, it is the same as described above 😀

 

[Patrice Brousseau]

Thank you for your comment. While you are correct about the instructions, my trused process %CPU remains between very low and sometimes 0%. I will just leave well enough alone for now. However, my MBA performance also seems to be much better as well.

Update: After installing Mojave Security Update 2021-004, it is the same as described above 😀

If I understand what you meant and what I experience: 2021-004 fixed it.

 

[madrich]

If I understand what you meant and what I experience: 2021-004 fixed it.

I cannot say that the security update 2021-004 fixed it. I am just saying that I previous deleted the files (described above) and “later“ updated to the current security update 2021-004 and the trustd process CPU% remained low or 0%.

 

[Patrice Brousseau]

I cannot say that the security update 2021-004 fixed it. I am just saying that I previous deleted the files (described above) and “later“ updated to the current security update 2021-004 and the trustd process CPU% remained low or 0%.

Well, anyway, it looks ok on my two Mojave computers so maybe not everybody was affected or the SU fixed the bug…

 

[madrich]

Well, anyway, it looks ok on my two Mojave computers so maybe not everybody was affected or the SU fixed the bug…

MAYBE.

 

[nospamboz]

Well, it happened again, not sure why. The solution in the OP worked again, so far. I'm bumping this in case anyone else gets affected.

 

[madrich]

I checked my MacBook Air early 2015 and the problem has again arose. I renamed the files, as described in the above link, put them in the trash for safe keeping. I rebooted and the news files were re-created and the Activity Monitor shows the trustd files in a normal, CPU 0%. Everyone should take another look at this situation.

Update 2/27/22: My CPU % is still 0%. Even though I recreated the files (as described above) last June, something must cause the problem to reoccur. It would require constant monitoring to figure that out. I am going to leave my Activity Monitor on for awhile to make sure it is static.

Update 2/28/22: My CPU % is still 0%.