An iOS security researcher uses the 'iproxy' tool over USB to forward local ports and then runs a dynamic analysis framework against a test iPhone running a developer-signed app.
What iOS security feature allows apps signed with a developer certificate to run on a physical device, and why can this be abused in attack scenarios?
- A.The developer certificate unlocks the JIT-capable memory mode otherwise reserved for Safari's JavaScript engine; researchers abuse the resulting writable and executable pages to patch Objective-C method dispatch at runtime without re-signing the binary on disk
- B.Developer provisioning profiles allow apps signed with a developer certificate and bound to specific device UDIDs to bypass the App Store review; threat actors abuse this via enterprise/developer certificates to distribute malware outside the App Store
- C.Developer-signed apps skip the TCC prompt layer and each entitlement named in the profile is granted silently; attackers put full-disk access into a profile the target is talked into trusting