Mac OS Internals Training in Australia

This course accompanies Jonathan Levin's highly praised trilogy, '*OS Internals,' with deeper discussions and hands-on examples. It focuses on macOS Monterey (10.17), Ventura (10.18), and iOS versions 15 and 16, covering significant changes in these later versions. The course explores Apple's operating systems from a reverse engineer’s perspective, offering in-depth coverage of both documented and undocumented features, tools, and updates. The content is taught by the author himself and presents an opportunity to master reverse engineering techniques for macOS and iOS.

• Knowledge of macOS at a user level, including user-mode programming.
• Familiarity with x86_64 and/or ARM64 is highly recommended.
• Bring your own Mac or jailbroken i-Device.

Target Audience

• Reverse Engineers
• Security Researchers
• Malware Researchers
• Forensics Experts

Particularly those interested in macOS and iOS and reverse engineering techniques specific to Apple’s operating systems.

• Understand the process of binary linking and loading.
• Reverse engineer and analyse Mach-O binaries.
• Reverse engineer Objective-C and Swift code.
• Use Apple’s documented and undocumented APIs for tracing and debugging.
• Explain, interface with, and hook kernel system calls.
• Identify and explain common malware techniques.
• Understand attack surfaces in macOS and iOS, particularly in the kernel, kexts (I/O Kit), and system daemons.

The course covers the following modules over five days, with hands-on exercises and guided demos:

Architectural Overview (3 hours)

• Introduction to the Architecture of macOS and iOS.
• Review of Apple's architectural diagrams and corrections for accuracy.
• Overview of iOS derivatives (TvOS, WatchOS).
• Introduction to private frameworks.
• The Darwin environment and XNU kernel.
• Hardware architecture for macOS (x86, x86_64, x86_64h) and iOS (armv8, A7+, A11).
• Apple Silicon and Rosetta II.
• Using sysctl for hardware details and MobileGestalt for software and hardware details.

Binaries (2+1 hours)

• Detailed examination of the Mach-O file format.
• Types of Mach-O files: Executables, bundles, dylibs, kexts, cores.
• Load commands, LC_SEGMENT[64], and process virtual memory setup.
• DYLD dependencies, code signing, and code encryption.
• Tools like otool(1) and JTool2 for static analysis.
• Exercises include analysing user-mode malware or other binaries and defeating code encryption in iOS.

Advanced Mach-O and DYLD (2+2 hours)

• Exploring lesser-known aspects of DYLD, Mach-O Loader, and loader opcodes.
• Dynamic linking, rebasing chains, and DYLD callbacks.
• Exercises include extending and hacking DYLD.

Debugging and Tracing Techniques (2+1 hours)

• Built-in tools for debugging and profiling macOS/iOS processes.
• Using LLDB, malloc_history, vmmap, sc_usage, and other tracing tools.
• Endpoint Security Framework and DTrace for macOS.
• Exercises include using KDebug, Process Explorer, and creating filters.

Launchd and XPC (2+1 hours)

• Describing macOS and iOS startup via launchd, LaunchDaemons, and LaunchAgents.
• Malware persistence through Launchd.
• Introduction to Mach ports, Mach services, and XPC APIs.
• Exercises include listing Mach and XPC endpoints, and adding a LaunchDaemon or LaunchAgent.

Mach Primitives and IPC (3+2 hours)

• Core concepts of XNU and Mach kernel, tasks, threads, and message passing.
• Remote code injection using Mach APIs.
• Exercises include enumerating Mach tasks and using Mach APIs for thread injection.

XNU Kernel, Up Close (1 hour)

• Detailed look at the XNU kernel, source tree layout, and compiling options.
• Reverse engineering without XNU source code (iOS).
• Introduction to the Kernel Debug Kit.

Programming KEXTs and DEXTs (1+1 hours)

• Architecture of Kernel Extensions (KEXTs) and Driver Extensions (DEXTs).
• Commands for managing KEXTs: kextstat, kextutil, and kmutil.
• OSKext* APIs and dependency handling.
• Exercises include building a KEXT and using OSKext APIs for kernel memory inspection.

I/O Kit (2+2 hours)

• In-depth exploration of I/O Kit, object-oriented driver runtime in XNU.
• IOUserClients, IOConnectCall* methods, and I/O Registry.
• Exercises include reverse engineering I/O Kit kernel modules and creating a simple fuzzer.

The Network Stack (Optional) (1+1 hours)

• Layer-by-layer discussion of the BSD-based network stack in macOS/iOS.
• Protocol implementations, interface filters, and Berkeley Packet Filter (BPF).
• Exercises include installing packet filters and intercepting connections.

Security (4 hours)

• Detailed look at macOS and iOS security mechanisms like AppleMobileFileIntegrity and the Sandbox kernel extensions.
• Code signing, entitlement handling, quarantine, and Gatekeeper.
• Detailed deconstruction of malware examples, including the NSO Group’s “Pegasus” for iOS.
• Exercises include analysis of student-provided malware samples.