How to Check If SIP Is Enabled on Mac

Yvette Bonnet updated Jul 09, 26

5 min(s)

TL;DR:

To check the System Integrity Protection status on a Mac, open the built-in Terminal application and run the csrutil status command.
    ● The output will explicitly state if the protection is enabled, disabled, or operating under a custom configuration where only specific safeguards remain active.
    ● While verifying the status can be done during a normal macOS session, changing the protection level requires restarting the Mac into macOS Recovery.
    ● After executing an enable or disable command in Recovery mode, the Mac must be restarted for the new security configuration to take effect.

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System Integrity Protection status on Mac can be checked with the built-in Terminal command csrutil status. The output shows whether SIP is enabled, disabled, or partially configured. Checking SIP status does not change the Mac; it only reports the current protection setting.

Steps

Step 1
Open Terminal from Applications > Utilities or by using Spotlight search.
Step 2
Type csrutil status and press Return.
Step 3
Read the Terminal output. enabled means SIP is on, disabled means SIP is off, and a custom configuration means some protections may be disabled while others remain active.
Step 4
If Terminal returns an error, check the spelling of the command and try again from a normal macOS session.
Step 5
If SIP needs to be changed, restart into macOS Recovery. SIP status can be checked in normal mode, but SIP changes usually require Recovery mode.

Common Issues and Fixes

command not found appears: likely cause is a mistyped command; fix by entering csrutil status exactly, with a space between the two words.
Output mentions custom configuration: likely cause is a partially enabled SIP setup; fix by reading the full Terminal message instead of checking only for enabled or disabled.
SIP appears disabled after repair or modification: likely cause is a previous troubleshooting step that turned SIP off; fix by verifying current status and re-enabling SIP from Recovery if appropriate.
SIP cannot be changed in normal startup: likely cause is macOS security design; fix by restarting into macOS Recovery before using csrutil enable or csrutil disable.
Protection still seems active after a change: likely cause is that the Mac was not restarted after the command; fix by restarting and running csrutil status again.

Quick Tips

csrutil status is the standard built-in command for checking whether System Integrity Protection is enabled.
Checking SIP status does not modify system settings or user files.
A partial SIP configuration can exist, so the full Terminal output matters.
Disabling SIP can reduce macOS system protection and should only be done for a specific trusted task.

💡Protip:

Before changing SIP, record the current csrutil status output, macOS version, Mac model, and reason for the change. This makes it easier to restore the original security setting after troubleshooting is complete.