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A reverse engineering tool to restore stripped symbol table for iOS app.

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restore-symbol

  • Update: 20231206

Forked from HeiTanBc/restore-symbol, do many furture optimization, to facilicate restore symbols for iOS Mach-O file

Effect Compare

  • Before restore symbol
    • before_restore_symbol
  • After restore symbol
    • for: restore-symbol=rs's ObjC + block
      • after_restore_symbol_whatsapp_rs
    • for: IDA's Functions + Names + block
      • after_restored_symbol_whatsapp_ida

Prepare

  • get restore-symbol executable file
    • download from release
    • or download code then build by yourself
  • then makesure workable
    • show version
      • ./restore-symbol --version
    • show help
      • ./restore-symbol --help == ./restore-symbol

Download from release

download from releases (then rename to restore-symbol)

Compile by yourself

  • download code
    git clone --recursive https://github.com/crifan/restore-symbol.git
  • compile to generate restore-symbol
    cd restore-symbol
    make

Usage

  • Summary
    • for anyone: have IDA Pro
      • (1) ida_search_block.py: scan and writeback block symbols to IDA
      • (2) exportIDASymbol.py: export IDA (Functions (include ObjC) + Names + block) symbols to json file
      • (3) restore-symbol: restore all symbols for iOS Mach-O binary file
    • for anyone: no IDA Pro
      • restore-symol : restore (only) ObjC symbols
  • Details:

(1) scan and writeback block symbols to IDA

  • (1) scan and writeback block symbols to IDA
    • run tools/IDAScripts/search_oc_block/ida_search_block.py in IDA
      • default config:
        • enableWriteback = True: write back (scanned objc block symbol name) into IDA
        • isExportToFile = True: meanwhile also export block symbol file (for furture use, or manual check)
    • Example
      • WhatsApp
        • ida_writeback_block_symbol_whatsapp

(2) export IDA symbols (Functions + Names, and above block symbols) to json file

  • (2) export IDA symbols (Functions(inside include ObjC symbols) + Names, and above block symbols) to json file
    • run tools/IDAScripts/export_ida_symbol/exportIDASymbol.py in IDA
      • default config
        • isVerbose = False: no verbose log
          • change to isVerbose = True if you want see details
        • isExportToFile = True: export final all symbols to json file
        • enableDemangleName = True: for (Functions + Names) all symbol names, use demangle name if not None
        • outputFolder = None: default output exported file to current folder of IDA opened Mach-O file
          • set to your expected other folder if necessary
    • Example
      • WhatsApp
        • ida_export_symbol_whatsapp
    • Attention
      • makesure IDA's image base == Mach-O vmaddr base is same
        • Example
          • WhatsApp
            • before: IDA image base=0x100C00000
              • ida_before_rebase_0x100C00000
            • after Rebase program, IDA's image base=0x100000000
              • ida_after_rebase_0x100000000
            • same with (MachOView see) WhatsApp's vmaddr=0x100000000
              • machoview_whatsapp_text_vmaddr_0x100000000

(3) restore all symbols for iOS Mach-O binary file

  • (3) restore all symbols for iOS Mach-O binary file
    • run ./restore-symbol to restore IDA exported all symbols (IDA's Functions+Names and block)
      restore-symbol -w true -s false -j {exported_IDA_symbols.json} -o {outputFile_RestoredSymbol} {inputMachOFile}
    • Example
      • WhatsApp
        ./restore-symbol -w true -s false -j tools/IDAScripts/export_ida_symbol/output/WhatsApp_IDASymbols_FunctionsNames_20231129_223621.json -o test/WhatsApp/output/WhatsApp_mergedSymbols_20231129 test/WhatsApp/input/WhatsApp
        • restore_symbol_whatsapp

restore-symol (only) ObjC symbols

use restore-symol to restore ObjC symbols, passing argument with -s true=--scan-objc-symbols true

restore-symbol -s true -o {outputFile_RestoredSymbol} {inputMachOFile}
  • Note
    • after restore-symbol restored ObjC symbol, there are some wrong symbol
      • how to fix: use above (exportIDASymbol.py expored) IDA symbols

More Usage Case

  • Exmaple
    • WhatsApp
      • Only export ObjC symbols to json file + not remove duplicated ObjC symbol
        restore-symbol test/WhatsApp/input/WhatsApp -s true -r false -m false -b test/WhatsApp/output/ObjcSymbols/WhatsApp_objcSymbolsDuplicated_20231201.json
      • Only export ObjC symbols to json file + remove duplicated ObjC symbol
        restore-symbol test/WhatsApp/input/WhatsApp -s true -r false -m true -b test/WhatsApp/output/ObjcSymbols/WhatsApp_objcSymbolsDuplicated_20231201.json
      • scan and restore ObjC symbol, use default remove duplicated ObjC symbol
        restore-symbol test/WhatsApp/input/WhatsApp -s true -r true -m true -o test/WhatsApp/output/WhatsApp_restoredObjcSymbols_20231404
      • scan and restore ObjC symbol, use default remove duplicated ObjC symbol + overwrite output file if exsited
        restore-symbol test/WhatsApp/input/WhatsApp -s true -r true -m true -o test/WhatsApp/output/WhatsApp_restoredObjcSymbols_20231404 -w true
      • restore from imported json symbol file
        restore-symbol test/WhatsApp/input/WhatsApp -s false -r true -j tools/IDAScripts/export_ida_symbol/output/WhatsApp_IDASymbols_FunctionsNames_20231130_104313.json -o test/WhatsApp/output/WhatsApp_restoredIdaAllSymbols_20231404

Post step

after export IDA symbol, if you want automate whole process of repack ipa, you can use:

crifan/AutoRepackIpa: Auto repack ipa

Changelog

  • 20231115
    • other updates for exportIDASymbo.py, mergeSymbols.py
  • 20231103
    • add tools/IDAScripts/export_ida_symbol/exportIDASymbol.py
      • to export IDA symbols
    • add tools/mergeSymbols/mergeSymbols.py
      • to merge all symbols from restore-symbol restored, exported from IDA functions list, scanned from IDA block
  • 20231027
    • search_oc_block/ida_search_block.py
      • Converted to support IDA 7.4+ (SegName->get_segm_name, Qword->get_qword, etc.)
      • Converted to Python 3.x(print xxx->print(xxx), filter->list etc.)
      • Fixed bug: RecursionError: maximum recursion depth exceeded while calling a Python object

restore-symbol help

➜  restore-symbol git:(master) ✗ ./restore-symbol --help

restore-symbol 2.0 (64 bit)

Usage: restore-symbol [-o <output-file>] [-j <json-symbol-file>] [-w <true/false>] [-s <true/false>] [-b <objcSymbolsOutputFile>] [-r <true/false>] [-p] <input-mach-O-file>

  where options are:
    -h,--help                                              Print this help info then exit
    -v,--version                                           Print version info then exit
    -o,--output <output-file>                              New mach-O file path
                                                             default: null
    -j,--json <json-symbol-file>                           Json file containing extra symbol info, the key is "name","address"
                                                             like this:
                                                               [
                                                                 {
                                                                   "name": "main",
                                                                   "address": "0xXXXXXX"
                                                                 },
                                                                 {
                                                                   "name": "-[XXXX XXXXX]",
                                                                   "address": "0xXXXXXX"
                                                                 },
                                                                 ...
                                                               ]
                                                             default: null
    -w,--overwrite-output-file <true/false>                Overwrite output file if existed
                                                             default: false
    -s,--scan-objc-symbols <true/false>                    Scan objc symbols or not
                                                             default: true
    -m,--remove-duplicated-objc-symbols <true/false>       Remove duplicated objc symbols or not after scan objc symbols
                                                             default: true
    -b,--objc-symbols-output-file <objcSymbolsOutputFile>  Export objc symbols to file
                                                             default: null
    -r,--restore-symols <true/false>                       Restore symbol or not
                                                             default: true
    -p,--replace-restrict                                  New mach-O file will replace the LC_SEGMENT(__RESTRICT,__restrict)
                                                             with LC_SEGMENT(__restrict,__restrict) to close dylib inject protection
                                                             default: disabled

TODO

  • update class-dump to support new load command: 0x80000033, 0x80000034

A reverse engineering tool to restore stripped symbol table for iOS app.

Example: restore symbol for Alipay

after_restore

How to use

Just restore symbol of oc method

    1. Download source code and compile.
git clone --recursive https://github.com/HeiTanBc/restore-symbol
cd restore-symbol && make
./restore-symbol
    1. Restore symbol using this command. It will output a new mach-o file with symbol.
./restore-symbol /pathto/origin_mach_o_file -o /pathto/mach_o_with_symbol 
    1. Copy the new mach-o file (with symbol) to app bundle, replace the origin mach-o file with new mach-o file. Resign app bundle.
codesign -f -s - --timestamp=none --generate-entitlement-der --entitlement ./xxxx.app.xcent ./xxxx.app
    1. Install the app bundle to iOS device, and use lldb to debug the app. Maybe you can use the ios-deploy, or other way you like. If you use ios-deploy , you can execute this command.
brew install ios-deploy
ios-deploy -d -b xxxx.app
    1. Now you can use b -[class method] to set breakpoint.

Restore symbol of oc block

    1. Use command line tool(restore-symbol) to inject oc method symbols and block symbols into mach o file.
./restore-symbol /pathto/origin_mach_o_file -o /pathto/mach_o_with_symbol -j /pathto/block_symbol.json
    1. Other steps(resign, install, debug) are samen as above.

Command Line Usage

# ./restore-symbol --help

restore-symbol 1.0 (64 bit)

Usage: restore-symbol -o <output-file> [-j <json-symbol-file>] <mach-o-file>

  where options are:
    -o,--output <output-file>                              New mach-o-file path
    -s,--scan-objc-symbols <true/false>                    true/false to enable/disable to disable scan objc symbols
    -e,--export-objc-symbol <output-objc-symbol-file>      Export ObjC symbol file while restore ObjC symbol
    --replace-restrict                                     New mach-o-file will replace the LC_SEGMENT(__RESTRICT,__restrict)
                                                           with LC_SEGMENT(__restrict,__restrict) to close dylib inject protection
    -j,--json <json-symbol-file>                           Json file containing extra symbol info, the key is "name","address"
                                   like this:
                               
                                    [
                                         {
                                          "name": "main", 
                                          "address": "0xXXXXXX"
                                         }, 
                                         {
                                          "name": "-[XXXX XXXXX]", 
                                          "address": "0xXXXXXX"
                                         },
                                         .... 
                                        ]
    -h,--help                      Print this help info then exit

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A reverse engineering tool to restore stripped symbol table for iOS app.

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