iDEA: Static Analysis on the Security of Apple Kernel Drivers
Xiaolong Bai, Luyi Xing, Min Zheng, QU Fuping · 2020
Drivers on Apple OSes (e.g., iOS, tvOS, iPadOS, macOS, etc.) run in the kernel space and driver vulnerabilities can incur serious security consequences. A recent report from Google Project Zero shows that driver vulnerabilities on Apple OSes have been actively exploited in the wild. Also, we observed that driver vulnerabilities have accounted for one-third of kernel bugs in recent iOS versions based on Apple's security updates. Despite the serious security implications, systematic static analysis on Apple drivers for finding security vulnerabilities has never been done before, not to mention any large-scale study of Apple drivers.