macos-mig-analyzer

name

macos-mig-analyzer

description

Analyze Mach Interface Generator (MIG) IPC on macOS. Use this skill whenever the user mentions MIG, Mach IPC, macOS inter-process communication, binary analysis of Mach-O files with IPC, extracting dispatch tables from macOS binaries, or reverse engineering macOS system services. Trigger for any task involving .defs files, mach_port, bootstrap_look_up, jtool2 MIG analysis, or identifying RPC functions in macOS binaries.

macOS MIG Analyzer

A skill for analyzing Mach Interface Generator (MIG) based inter-process communication on macOS systems.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Analyzing macOS binaries that use Mach IPC
• Reverse engineering MIG-based system services
• Extracting dispatch tables from Mach-O binaries
• Understanding .defs interface definition files
• Identifying RPC functions in macOS daemons
• Debugging Mach port communication
• Using jtool2 to parse MIG information

MIG Fundamentals

MIG (Mach Interface Generator) simplifies Mach IPC code creation by generating server and client code from Interface Definition Language (IDL) files with .defs extension.

Definition File Structure

MIG definitions have 5 sections:

1. Subsystem declaration: Specifies name and ID, optionally marked as KernelServer
2. Inclusions and imports: Uses C-preprocessor, supports uimport and simport
3. Type declarations: Custom types with [in/out]tran, c[user/server]type, destructor
4. Operations: RPC method definitions (5 types: routine, simpleroutine, procedure, simpleprocedure, function)
5. Generated code: Server and client stubs

Operation Types

Type	Expects Reply
routine	Yes
simpleroutine	No
procedure	Yes
simpleprocedure	No
function	Yes

Binary Analysis Workflow

Step 1: Identify MIG Usage

Check if a binary uses MIG by looking for _NDR_record dependency:

jtool2 -S <binary> | grep NDR
# or
nm <binary> | grep NDR

MIG servers have dispatch tables in __DATA.__const (macOS userland) or __CONST.__constdata (kernel).

Step 2: Extract MIG Dispatch Information

Use jtool2 to parse MIG data from the binary:

# Extract dispatch table
jtool2 -d __DATA.__const <binary> | grep MIG

# Find function calls (BL instructions)
jtool2 -d __DATA.__const <binary> | grep BL

Step 3: Locate Routine Descriptors

The dispatch table contains routine_descriptor structs (0x28 bytes each):

struct routine_descriptor {
    mig_impl_routine_t  impl_routine;    // 8 bytes - actual function address
    mig_stub_routine_t  stub_routine;    // 8 bytes - stub function
    int                 const_count;     // 4 bytes
    int                 var_count;       // 4 bytes
    routine_arg_descriptor_t *arg_desc;  // 8 bytes
    mach_msg_size_t     maxsize;         // 4 bytes
    // padding to 0x28
};

Each descriptor is 0x28 bytes. The first 8 bytes contain the function address.

Step 4: Map Message IDs to Functions

MIG uses sequential IDs starting from the subsystem ID:

// Example: subsystem myipc 500
// First operation = ID 500, second = ID 501, etc.

// In generated code:
msgh_id = InHeadP->msgh_id - 500;  // Calculate index
routine = subsystem.routine[msgh_id].stub_routine;

Step 5: Analyze Server Routine

The myipc_server function (or similar) handles message dispatch. Key patterns:

1. Validates message ID range
2. Calculates array index: msgh_id - start_id
3. Looks up function pointer in dispatch table
4. Calls the appropriate handler

Look for this pattern in decompiled code:

if (msgh_id >= start && msgh_id <= end) {
    routine = dispatch_table[msgh_id - start].stub_routine;
    if (routine != 0) {
        routine(InHeadP, OutHeadP);
        return TRUE;
    }
}

Common Analysis Tasks

Extract All MIG Functions from Binary

# Get the dispatch table address
jtool2 -s <binary> | grep -A5 "__DATA.__const"

# Dump the section
jtool2 -d __DATA.__const <binary> > mig_dump.txt

# Look for routine descriptors (search for MIG patterns)
grep -A20 "subsystem" mig_dump.txt

Find Bootstrap Service Names

MIG servers often register with bootstrap:

# Search for bootstrap service strings
jtool2 -s <binary> | grep -i bootstrap
strings <binary> | grep -E "^[a-z0-9._-]+$" | grep -v "^[0-9]"

Identify Client vs Server

Indicator	Client	Server
Uses __NDR_record	Yes	Yes
Calls __mach_msg	Yes	Yes
Has dispatch table	No	Yes
Uses bootstrap_look_up	Yes	No
Uses bootstrap_check_in	No	Yes
Has mach_msg_server	No	Yes

Debugging MIG Communication

Enable MIG debug logging:

# View MIG kernel debug messages
kdv all | grep MIG

# Or use trace
trace -f <binary>

Example Analysis

Simple MIG Definition

subsystem myipc 500;

userprefix USERPREF;
serverprefix SERVERPREF;

#include <mach/mach_types.defs>
#include <mach/std_types.defs>

simpleroutine Subtract(
    server_port : mach_port_t;
    n1          : uint32_t;
    n2          : uint32_t);

Generated Server Structure

const struct SERVERPREFmyipc_subsystem SERVERPREFmyipc_subsystem = {
    myipc_server_routine,  // Server routine
    500,                   // start ID
    501,                   // end ID
    sizeof(union __ReplyUnion__),
    0,
    {
        { 0, _XSubtract, 3, 0, 0, sizeof(__Reply__Subtract_t) }
    }
};

Server Implementation Pattern

kern_return_t SERVERPREFSubtract(mach_port_t server_port, uint32_t n1, uint32_t n2)
{
    // Your handler code here
    printf("Received: %d - %d = %d\n", n1, n2, n1 - n2);
    return KERN_SUCCESS;
}

int main() {
    mach_port_t port;
    kern_return_t kr;
    
    // Register with bootstrap
    kr = bootstrap_check_in(bootstrap_port, "com.example.service", &port);
    
    // Start message server
    mach_msg_server(myipc_server, sizeof(union __RequestUnion__), port, MACH_MSG_TIMEOUT_NONE);
}

Client Implementation Pattern

int main() {
    mach_port_t port;
    kern_return_t kr;
    
    // Lookup service
    kr = bootstrap_look_up(bootstrap_port, "com.example.service", &port);
    if (kr != KERN_SUCCESS) {
        printf("Failed to lookup service\n");
        return 1;
    }
    
    // Call RPC
    USERPREFSubtract(port, 40, 2);
}

Tools Reference

jtool2 Commands

# Show section symbols
jtool2 -s <binary>

# Dump section data
jtool2 -d <section> <binary>

# Show dependencies
jtool2 -S <binary>

# Disassemble
jtool2 -D <binary>

Finding MIG Examples on System

# Find .defs files
mdfind "*.defs"

# Find mach_port.defs
mdfind mach_port.defs

# Compile example
mig -DLIBSYSCALL_INTERFACE mach_ports.defs

Common Pitfalls

1. Message ID offset: Remember to subtract the subsystem start ID when indexing into the dispatch table
2. Reply handling: Only routine, procedure, and function types expect replies
3. Port management: First argument is always the server port; MIG handles reply ports automatically
4. NDR encoding: Data is encoded for cross-system compatibility via _NDR_record
5. Dispatch table location: Varies by platform (__DATA.__const vs __CONST.__constdata)

Next Steps

For deeper analysis:

1. Use Hopper/IDA to decompile the server routine
2. Extract routine descriptors using the 0x28-byte stride
3. Map each function address to its handler
4. Trace actual IPC calls with dtrace or kdv
5. Compare against known system services for patterns

References

• OS Internals, Volume I, User Mode - Jonathan Levin
• macOS Mach IPC documentation
• jtool2 GitHub repository
• MIG man page: man mig