michalmalik / osx-re-101

A collection of resources for OSX/iOS reverse engineering.

osx & ios re 101

Work in progress as I am actively collecting these.

Must read

• https://reverse.put.as/
• https://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/mac-os-x/
• https://www.synack.com/blog/r-d-projects/os-x-security-research/
• https://pewpewthespells.com/re.html
• https://github.com/bx/machO-tools
• https://github.com/kpwn/iOSRE

Keep these handy

• "OSX Mach-O File Format Reference" https://pewpewthespells.com/re/Mach-O_File_Format.pdf
• "OSX ABI" https://pewpewthespells.com/re/Mac_OS_X_ABI_Function_Calls.pdf
• Mach-O structures https://opensource.apple.com/source/xnu/xnu-2050.18.24/EXTERNAL_HEADERS/mach-o/loader.h
• "OSX BSD system calls" https://sigsegv.pl/osx-bsd-syscalls/
• https://opensource.apple.com/source/xnu/xnu-2050.18.24/bsd/kern/syscalls.master

Basics

• "Universal Binary: The Mach-O file format" https://cocoaintheshell.whine.fr/2009/07/universal-binary-mach-o-format/
• "Basics of the Mach-O file format" https://samhuri.net/posts/2010/01/basics-of-the-mach-o-file-format/
• "How OS X Executes Applications" http://0xfe.blogspot.de/2006/03/how-os-x-executes-applications.html
• "Infecting Mach-O object format" https://papers.put.as/papers/macosx/2005/mach-o_infection.ppt
• "Under the iHood" https://www.defcon.org/images/defcon-16/dc16-presentations/defcon-16-hotchkies.pdf
• "Dissection of minimal Intel 32-bits, 204 bytes, Mach-O "Hello World" executable file" http://seriot.ch/hello_macho.php
• "Crafting a Tiny Mach-O Executable" http://osxbook.com/blog/2009/03/15/crafting-a-tiny-mach-o-executable/
• "Parsing Mach-O files" http://lowlevelbits.org/parse-mach-o-files/
• "ELF vs. Mach-O" http://timetobleed.com/dynamic-linking-elf-vs-mach-o/
• "ELF vs. Mach-O 2" http://timetobleed.com/dynamic-symbol-table-duel-elf-vs-mach-o-round-2/
• "NASM Hello World for x86 and x86_64 Intel Mac OS X" https://gist.github.com/FiloSottile/7125822
• "Reverse Engineering the OS: A Practical Guide" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQWH55yIgYU

Malware, Anti-debugging, infection techniques, obfuscation, and encryption

• "Infecting Mach-O" http://nicolascormier.com/documentation/security/Infecting_Mach-O_Files.pdf
• "Abusing the Mach-O format" http://cocoaintheshell.com/2009/10/abusing-mach-o
• "Multi-Platform Viruses Made Easy - A Case Study" http://vxer.org/lib/vjp00.html
• "Running executables on macOS from memory" https://blog.cylance.com/running-executables-on-macos-from-memory
• macos_execute_from_memory https://github.com/prsecurity/macos_execute_from_memory/blob/master/main.c
• "Understanding Apple's Binary Protection in Mac OS X" http://osxbook.com/book/bonus/chapter7/binaryprotection/
• "Macs get sick too" http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=videos/derbycon6/104-macs-get-sick-too-tyler-halfpop-jacob-soo
• "A Peek Under the Hood of iOS Malware" http://webdiis.unizar.es/~ricardo/files/papers/GR-WMA-16.pdf
• "Crafting macOS Rootkits" https://www.zdziarski.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Crafting-macOS-Root-Kits.pdf
• "Revisiting Mac OS X Kernel Rootkits" http://phrack.org/issues/69/7.html#article
• "Methods of malware persistence on Mac OS X" https://www.virusbulletin.com/uploads/pdf/conference/vb2014/VB2014-Wardle.pdf
• "Let's Play: Practical OS X Malware Detection & Analysis" https://www.synack.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/RSA_OSX_Malware.pdf

Various research & tutorials

• "Reversing and Keygenning qwertyoruiop's Crackme" https://reverse.put.as/2018/10/06/reversing-and-keygenning-qwertyoruiop-crackme/
• "Cracking Tutorial #1 - "Sandwich" CrackMe" http://reverse.put.as/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Sandwich_crackme_tut_qwertyoruiop.txt
• "Solving crackmes with LDPRELOAD" http://radare.today/solving-crackmes-with-ldpreload/
• "Analyzing Binaries with Hopper’s Decompiler" http://abad1dea.tumblr.com/post/23487860422/analyzing-binaries-with-hoppers-decompiler
• "Reverse Engineering Hopper Disassembler v3.9.9" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCITcLqgS9Q
• "Reverse-Engineering iOS Apps: Hacking on Lyft" https://realm.io/news/conrad-kramer-reverse-engineering-ios-apps-lyft/
• "Jailbreak iOS 8.1.2 and Analyze Related Exploits" http://proteaswang.blogspot.com/2017/04/jailbreak-ios-812-and-analyze-related.html
• "Attacking The XNU Kernel in El Capitan" https://www.blackhat.com/docs/eu-15/materials/eu-15-Todesco-Attacking-The-XNU-Kernal-In-El-Capitain.pdf
• "Shooting the OSX El Capitan Kernel Like a Sniper" https://speakerdeck.com/flankerhqd/shooting-the-osx-el-capitan-kernel-like-a-sniper
• "The Italian morons are back! What are they up to this time?" https://reverse.put.as/2016/02/29/the-italian-morons-are-back-what-are-they-up-to-this-time/
• "The Journey of a complete OSX privilege escalation with a single vulnerability - Part 1" http://keenlab.tencent.com/en/2016/07/29/The-Journey-of-a-complete-OSX-privilege-escalation-with-a-single-vulnerability-Part-1/
• "iOS 10 Kernel Heap Revisted" http://gsec.hitb.org/materials/sg2016/D2%20-%20Stefan%20Esser%20-%20iOS%2010%20Kernel%20Heap%20Revisited.pdf
• "Who needs decrypted kernels anyways?" http://blog.offcellresearch.com/security/apple/ios/kernel/2016/08/23/who-needs-decrypted-kernels-anyways.html
• "Mac OS X Privilege Escalation via Use-After-Free: CVE-2016-1828" https://bazad.github.io/2016/05/mac-os-x-use-after-free/
• "PEGASUS iOS Kernel Vulnerability Explained" http://sektioneins.de/en/blog/16-09-02-pegasus-ios-kernel-vulnerability-explained.html
• "Behind the Scenes with iOS Security" https://www.blackhat.com/docs/us-16/materials/us-16-Krstic.pdf
• "The Apple Sandbox: Deeper Into The Quagmire" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG715HcDgO8
• “A deep-dive into the many flavors of IPC available on OS X.” https://vimeo.com/127859750
• "Analysis of iOS 9.3.3 Jailbreak & Security Enhancements of iOS 10" http://powerofcommunity.net/poc2016/pangu.pdf
• "Fried Apples: Jailbreak DIY" https://speakerdeck.com/mbazaliy/fried-apples-jailbreak-diy
• "Reversing a macOS Kernel Extension" (DSMOS) http://lightbulbone.com/2016/10/04/intro-to-macos-kernel-debugging.html
• "Demystifying the Secure Enclave Processor" http://mista.nu/research/sep-paper.pdf
• "Leveraging Apple's Game Engine to Detect macOS Threats" https://objectivebythesea.com/v1/talks/OBTS_v1_Malm_Stein.pdf
• "Get Cozy with OpenBSM Auditing" https://objective-see.com/talks/Wardle_ShmooCon2018.pdf
• "Real-time auditing on macOS with OpenBSM" https://meliot.me/2017/07/02/mac-os-real-time-auditing/

Kernel extension (KEXT) development

• "KEXT Controls and Notifications" https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/Darwin/Conceptual/NKEConceptual/control/control.html
• "Network Kernel Extensions Reference" https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/Darwin/Conceptual/NKEConceptual/reference/reference.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40001858-CH232-BBAGGGED
• "Working with TrustedBSD in Mac OS X" https://sysdev.me/trusted-bsd-in-osx/
• "BUILDING AN APPLE OSX KERNEL MODULE WITH CMAKE – C/C" http://www.goodbits.ca/index.php/2017/09/25/building-an-apple-osx-kernel-module-with-cmake-cc/
• "Debugging macOS Kernel using VirtualBox" https://klue.github.io/blog/2017/04/macos_kernel_debugging_vbox/
• "Remote Kext Debugging" https://rednaga.io/2017/04/09/remote_kext_debugging/
• "Introduction to macOS Kernel Debugging" https://lightbulbone.com/posts/2016/10/intro-to-macos-kernel-debugging/
• "Kernel debugging with LLDB and VMWare Fusion" http://ddeville.me/2015/08/kernel-debugging-with-lldb-and-vmware-fusion
• "Monitoring Process Creation via the Kernel (Part I)" https://objective-see.com/blog.html#blogEntry9
• "Monitoring Process Creation via the Kernel (Part II)" https://objective-see.com/blog/blog_0x0A.html
• "Monitoring Process Creation via the Kernel (Part III)" https://objective-see.com/blog/blog_0x0B.html
• "Monitoring macOS, Part I: Monitoring Process Execution via MACF" https://www.fortinet.com/blog/threat-research/monitoring-macos--part-i--monitoring-process-execution-via-macf.html
• "Monitoring macOS, Part II: Monitoring File System Events and Dylib Loading via MACF" https://www.fortinet.com/blog/threat-research/monitor-file-system-events-and-dylib-loading-via-macf-on-macos.html
• "Monitoring macOS, Part III: Monitoring Network Activities Using Socket Filters" https://www.fortinet.com/blog/threat-research/monitoring-macos--part-iii--monitoring-network-activities-using-.html
• "A binary whitelisting/blacklisting system for Mac OS X" https://github.com/google/santa

Other

• "The Python bites your apple - fuzzing and exploiting OSX Kernel bugs" https://speakerdeck.com/flankerhqd/the-python-bites-your-apple-fuzzing-and-exploiting-osx-kernel-bugs
• "Artefacts and tricks for Mac OS X" http://sud0man.blogspot.fr/2015/05/artefacts-for-mac-os-x.html?m=1
• "Collection of forensics artifacs location for Mac OS X and iOS" https://github.com/pstirparo/mac4n6
• "New macOS Sierra (10.12) Forensic Artifacts – Introducing Unified Logging" https://www.mac4n6.com/blog/2016/11/13/new-macos-sierra-1012-forensic-artifacts-introducing-unified-logging
• "A curated list of shell commands and tools specific to OS X" https://github.com/herrbischoff/awesome-osx-command-line
• "OS X Security and Privacy Guide" https://github.com/drduh/OS-X-Security-and-Privacy-Guide
• "A launchd tutorial" http://launchd.info/
• https://objective-see.com/index.html
• "OS X malloc introspection tool" https://github.com/blankwall/MacHeap
• "MacOS Hardening Guide" http://newosxbook.com/files/moxii3/AppendixA.pdf by Jonathan Levin
• "Checkout4Mac" http://sud0man.blogspot.sk/2016/10/new-version-of-checkout4mac-02.html
• "OSX kernel fuzzer" https://github.com/SilverMoonSecurity/PassiveFuzzFrameworkOSX
• "iOS instrumentation without jailbreak" https://www.nccgroup.trust/uk/about-us/newsroom-and-events/blogs/2016/october/ios-instrumentation-without-jailbreak/
• "MacOS monitoring the open source way" https://blogs.dropbox.com/tech/2018/04/4696/
• "Mac OS X El Capitan (10.11) and task_for_pid()" https://attilathedud.me/mac-os-x-el-capitan-10-11-and-task_for_pid/

Crackmes and challenges

• https://reverse.put.as/crackmes/
• "Exercises" section in http://beginners.re/Reverse_Engineering_for_Beginners-en.pdf

Books

• "The Mac Hacker's Handbook" by Charlie Miller, Dino Dai Zovi
• "Mac OS X and iOS Internals: To the Apple's Core" by Jonathan Levin
• "Mac OS X Internals: A Systems Approach" by Amit Singh
• "iOS App Reverse Engineering" https://github.com/iosre/iOSAppReverseEngineering
• "iOS Hacker's Handbook" by Charlie Miller, Dion Blazakis, Dino Dai Zovi, Stefan Esser, Vincenzo Iozzo, Ralf-Philip Weinmann
• "Hacking and Securing iOS Applications" by Jonathan Zdziarski