iOS Reverse Engineering with 4 Case Studies

Name: iOS Reverse Engineering with 4 Case Studies
Rating: 3.8 (8 reviews)

Mastering the Methodologies

Created byCRC Press, Zishe Sha

Last updated 6/2017

English

What you'll learn

The mindset to think different in App development,
Oopen a door out of frameworks/limitations and to see the whole picture.

Course content

7 sections • 20 lectures • 52m total length

1.1 What’s Reverse Engineering3:26
Discover reverse engineering concepts for iOS, using a pizza analogy to show analysis without source code and solving problems by adding or modifying iOS parts via a general methodology.
1.2 Introduction of the Course2:17
Design a stage-by-stage course that builds your ability to reverse engineer using a thinking pattern and tools, then apply a step-by-step iOS reverse engineering solution tested on two harder examples.
1.3 Homework0:27
Tackle the homework to practice iOS reverse engineering and finish all tasks by yourself, getting your hands dirty to learn effectively.

2.1 Intro to 4 Course Examples2:23
Explore four iOS reverse engineering examples, detailing tasks from SpringBoard launch alerts and Uber prompt dismissal to reproducing Yahoo Weather HTTP JSON protocol and fixing a QQ crash.
2.2 Homework0:41
Students complete the homework by solving four tasks in the provided apps, articulate their train of thought, and predict potential problems to refine a consistent reverse engineering thinking pattern.

3.1 Show an Alert when SpringBoard Launches5:26
Explore how to show an alert when SpringBoard launches by hooking native delegate methods with CydiaSubstrate and Theos, using tools like ps, ssh, iFunBox, and class-dump.
3.2 Combing our Thoughts0:45
Analyze the target functions, specifically applicationDidFinishLaunching: or applicationDidFinishLaunchingWithOptions, SSH into iOS, locate the SpringBoard binary, class-dump headers, hook the method, and trigger an alert when SpringBoard finishes launching.
3.3 Homework0:40
Review the thinking pattern and study tool usage from the book and forum, then build a self-contained Theos project and share 'control', 'Makefile', and 'Tweak.xm' on the forum.

4.1 Skip the Force Upgrade in Uber10:28
Master iOS reverse engineering by tracing view controllers and call chains, using Cycript, Hopper, IDA, and LLDB to analyze and bypass the force upgrade flow in Uber.
4.2 Combing our Thoughts1:22
Master tracing the call chain to reveal why UBForceUpgradeViewController is presented, starting from the initialization and the property setter to showForceUpgradeViewControllerWithURLString, and decide whether to skip its presentation using Theos.
4.3 Homework0:39
Engage in an iOS reverse engineering homework task using Hopper and LLDB to locate and remove an app alert, sharing your method and results.

5.1 Review the Thinking Patterns1:51
Review thinking patterns from lectures 3 and 4 and outline a general reverse engineering methodology. Follow steps: guess the target, locate the binary, identify the function, and modify the logic.
5.2 Summary of Methodology1:07
Observe and guess cut points from experience; decrypt the binary with dumpdecrypted; extract headers with class-dump; locate target view via recursiveDescription; recover the call chain with Hopper and LLDB.
5.3 Homework0:30
Set two random goals and verify the methodology, then share your process on the forum; learn how this approach links thinking with tools for iOS reverse engineering.

6.1 Get the Network Communication Protocol of Yahoo Weather8:02
Discover how to reverse engineer Yahoo Weather's network protocol by using Charles to capture packets, identify oauth_signature generation via oauth_timestamp and oauth_nonce, and apply hmac sha1 and Base64EncodeData.
6.2 Combing our Thoughts1:04
Investigate Yahoo Weather traffic by sniffing with Charles, locating oauth_signature, and decrypting binaries. Use lldb and Hopper to reveal the signature algorithm and implement your own solution.
6.3 Homework0:28
Redo this homework without slides, integrating all learned knowledge to emulate how a reverser thinks, and take time to make it your own before the next lecture.

7.1 Fix the Crash Bug of QQi8:39
Apply iOS reverse engineering to fix a crash in QQi by tracing issue from tableView:didSelectRowAtIndexPath: to an NSDate category, where a 32-bit to 64-bit time_t mismatch causes localtime to fail.
7.2 Combing our Thoughts0:56
Combing our thoughts, debug an iOS crash after selecting a chat cell, locating the bug in viewDidDisappear due to a space size mismatch. Use LLDB and the ARM documentation to fix.
7.3 Homework1:14
Redo this task for lecture 7 without slides, discuss questions on the forum, and apply iOS reverse engineering concepts to reverse simple functions with a reverser mindset.

Requirements

You should be able to program with Objective-C or similar languages;
You should have basic understanding on mobile App development;
It's better you understand basic concepts in assembly language.

Description

The purpose of this course is to provide iOS developers with a practical way to “think different”, and open another door so they can see the whole picture.This course offers a free conprehensive book and serves as a digest and guide of it.

The course consists of 4 parts, i.e. concepts, tools, theories and practices. The course follows an "abstraction, concrete, abstraction, concrete" structure, starting from basic concepts like iOS filesystem hierarchy and iOS file types that Apple didn't expose to App developers but iOS researchers should know, then goes through the most commonly used tools like class-dump, Theos, Cycript, Reveal, IDA and LLDB to introduce what to do in iOS reverse engineering. After that, iOS reverse engineering theories based on Objective-C and ARM assembly are explained in a methodological way, pointing out the core of the book. Last but not least, several originally elaborated practices are there to cover all previous contents of the course and give you the most intuitive perception of iOS reverse engineering.

Who this course is for:

iOS enthusiasts
iOS developers
Mobile App Architects
Reverse engineers

iOS Reverse Engineering with 4 Case Studies

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction to Reverse Engineering3 lectures • 6min

Introduction to 4 Course Examples2 lectures • 3min

Case Study 1: Show an Alert When SpringBoard Finishes Launching3 lectures • 7min

Case Study 2: Skip the Force Upgrade in Uber3 lectures • 12min

From Thinking Pattern to Methodology3 lectures • 3min

Case Study 3: Get the Network Communication Protocol of Yahoo Weather3 lectures • 10min

Case Study 4: Fix the Crash Bug of QQi3 lectures • 11min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: