• Mach-O Runtime Architecture - http://math-atlas.sourceforge.net/devel/assembly/MachORuntime.pdf
• Mach-O Programming Topics - https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/MachOTopics/0-Introduction/introduction.html
• OS X ABI Mach-O File Format Reference (PDF)
• osx-re-101 - https://github.com/michalmalik/osx-re-101
• Reverse Engineering/Mac OS X - https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Reverse_Engineering/Mac_OS_X

Readings

• Basics of the Mach-O file format - https://samhuri.net/posts/2010/01/basics-of-the-mach-o-file-format/
• Dynamic Linking: ELF vs. Mach-O - http://timetobleed.com/dynamic-linking-elf-vs-mach-o/
• Dynamic Linking of Imported Functions in Mach-O - https://www.apriorit.com/dev-blog/225-dynamic-linking-mach-o / https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/187181/Dynamic-Linking-of-Imported-Functions-in-Mach-O
• Dynamic symbol table duel: ELF vs Mach-O, round 2 - http://timetobleed.com/dynamic-symbol-table-duel-elf-vs-mach-o-round-2/
• DYLD Detayled - The internals of DYLD, the dynamic linker, and the __LINKEDIT section - http://newosxbook.com/articles/DYLD.html
• Extracting libraries from dyld_shared_cache - https://worthdoingbadly.com/dscextract/
• Friday Q&A 2012-04-27: PLCrashReporter and Unwinding the Stack With DWARF - https://www.mikeash.com/pyblog/friday-qa-2012-04-27-plcrashreporter-and-unwinding-the-stack-with-dwarf.html
• Friday Q&A 2012-05-04: PLCrashReporter and Unwinding the Stack With DWARF, Part 2 - https://www.mikeash.com/pyblog/friday-qa-2012-05-04-plcrashreporter-and-unwinding-the-stack-with-dwarf-part-2.html
• Friday Q&A 2012-11-09: dyld: Dynamic Linking On OS X - https://www.mikeash.com/pyblog/friday-qa-2012-11-09-dyld-dynamic-linking-on-os-x.html
• Friday Q&A 2012-11-30: Let's Build A Mach-O Executable - https://www.mikeash.com/pyblog/friday-qa-2012-11-30-lets-build-a-mach-o-executable.html
• Having Fun with Obfuscated Mach-O Files - https://www.pnfsoftware.com/blog/having-fun-with-obfuscated-mach-o-files/
• Hello Mach-O: Dissection of minimal Intel 32-bits, 204 bytes, Mach-O "Hello World" executable file - http://seriot.ch/hello_macho.php
• Mach-O Binaries - http://www.m4b.io/reverse/engineering/mach/binaries/2015/03/29/mach-binaries.html
• Mach-O Executables - https://www.objc.io/issues/6-build-tools/mach-o-executables/
• MacOS Dylib Injection through Mach-O Binary Manipulation
  • https://malwareunicorn.org/workshops/macos_dylib_injection.html
• Parsing Mach-O files - https://lowlevelbits.org/parsing-mach-o-files/
• Playing with Mach-O binaries and dyld
  • https://blog.lse.epita.fr/articles/82-playing-with-mach-os-and-dyld.html
  • https://lse.epita.fr/data/lt/2017-03-14/lt-2017-03-14-Stanislas_Lejay-Playing_with_machos_and_dyld.pdf
• Redirection of Imported Functions in Mach-O - https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/187192/Redirection-of-Imported-Functions-in-Mach-O
• Running Executables on macOS From Memory - https://blog.cylance.com/running-executables-on-macos-from-memory
• Runtime binary loading via the dynamic loader on Apple Mac OS X - http://www.subreption.com/blog/2009/02/runtime-binary-loading-via-the-dynamic-loader-on-apple-mac-os-x.html
• The Mach-O Transition: Darling in the Past 5 Years - http://blog.darlinghq.org/2017/02/the-mach-o-transition-darling-in-past-5.html

Tools/Software

• cctools-port: Apple cctools port for Linux, *BSD and Windows (Cygwin)
  • https://github.com/tpoechtrager/cctools-port
• jtool: (Mach-O Analyzer) - http://www.newosxbook.com/tools/jtool.html
• MacDependency: shows all dependent libraries and frameworks of a given executable, dynamic library or framework on Mac OS X
  • https://github.com/kwin/macdependency/
• mach_override: runtime function overriding for Mac OS X - https://github.com/rentzsch/mach_override
• MachoAnalysis: collection of analysis utils - https://github.com/eeeyes/macho_analysis
• macholibre: Mach-O & Universal Binary Parser - https://github.com/aaronst/macholibre
  • Mach-O Libre: Pile Driving Apple Malware with Static Analysis, Big-Data, and Automation - https://www.first.org/resources/papers/conf2016/FIRST-2016-130.pdf
• machO-tools - https://github.com/bx/machO-tools
• MachOExplorer - https://github.com/everettjf/MachOExplorer
• Machotools - "a small set of tools built on top of macholib to retrieve and change informations about mach-o files. Think of it as a pure python, cross-platform implementation of install_name_tool"
  • https://github.com/enthought/machotools
• MachOView: a visual Mach-O file browser - https://sourceforge.net/projects/machoview/
• MachOView fork: https://github.com/gdbinit/MachOView
• Maloader: userland Mach-O loader for Linux - https://github.com/shinh/maloader

Talks

• 2018 - Mach-O Tricks
  • BaiJiuCon at Mobile Security Conference (MOSEC) 2018
  • http://iokit.racing/machotricks.pdf
• 2013 - DEF CON 21 - Mach-O Malware Analysis: Combatting Mac OSX/iOS Malware with Data Visualization
  • https://infocon.org/cons/DEF%20CON/DEF%20CON%2021/DEF%20CON%2021%20presentations/Remy%20Baumgarten/
  • Slides: https://infocon.org/cons/DEF%20CON/DEF%20CON%2021/DEF%20CON%2021%20presentations/Remy%20Baumgarten/DEFCON-21-Baumgarten-Mach-O-Viz.pdf
  • Paper: https://infocon.org/cons/DEF%20CON/DEF%20CON%2021/DEF%20CON%2021%20presentations/Remy%20Baumgarten/DEFCON-21-Baumgarten-Mach-O-Viz-WP.pdf
  • Video: https://infocon.org/cons/DEF%20CON/DEF%20CON%2021/DEF%20CON%2021%20video%20and%20slides%20x265/DEF%20CON%2021%20Hacking%20Conference%20Presentation%20By%20Remy%20Baumgarten%20-%20Combatting%20Mac%20OSX%20iOS%20Malware%20with%20Data%20Visualization%20-%20Video%20and%20Slides.mp4
  • http://macsecurity.net/view/42/
  • http://www.securitytube.net/video/9133
• 2009 - Black Hat DC - Let your Mach-O fly - Vincenzo Iozzo
  • Slides: http://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-dc-09/Iozzo/BlackHat-DC-09-Iozzo-Macho-on-the-fly.pdf
  • Paper: http://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-dc-09/Iozzo/BlackHat-DC-09-Iozzo-let-your-mach0-fly-whitepaper.pdf

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Tags: format   macos   elf   dwarf   macho  

Last modified 06 April 2022

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