macos: Supported API to establish filesystem ACL absence?

I'm implementing a security-sensitive filesystem metadata verifier on macOS 27.0.1 (Apple Silicon, MacOSX27.0.sdk).

The verifier must distinguish three states:

  1. ACL absent: Supported evidence establishes that the file or directory has no filesystem ACL.
  2. ACL present: An ACL exists, including an empty ACL.
  3. Unknown: The observation is ambiguous, unavailable, unsupported, or incomplete.

Only authoritative ACL absence is acceptable. All other states are rejected.

I'm investigating fstatx_np() with a filesec_t object, followed by filesec_query_property(security, FILESEC_ACL, &present).

My questions are:

  1. Does this combination provide a supported API guarantee that a file or directory has no ACL when present is reported as false?
  2. Can an unset FILESEC_ACL property be reliably distinguished from an omitted or unavailable ACL observation?
  3. If this mechanism cannot establish absence, is there another supported descriptor-based macOS API that can?
  4. Is there Apple documentation specifying these semantics, including relevant error and unsupported-operation behavior?

I am not treating an empty ACL entry list, an unset property, or a command-line display without ACL entries as proof of absence.

I'm seeking the native API contract so the verifier can fail closed whenever ACL absence is not authoritatively established.

It looks like your issue is already being discussed over on this thread.

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