Am I understanding this correctly: the devs who downloaded Xcode from an unknown source disabled gatekeeper to get it to run? That's unbelievably stupid dev behavior, if true.
Validating Your Version of Xcode
11–20 of 101 posts
Re: Validating Your Version of Xcode
#12So, the next Trojan version of Xcode also needs to replace or corrupt spctl. I should look at it (on iPad currently), but it seems like the right combination of a custom Certificate Authority added to the keychain and signing your malicious Xcode with a certificate signed by the CA would help. Maybe also change the quarantine metadata on the file?
One should of course verify its integrity BEFORE installing it and letting it replace spctl. The real question is whether the spctl tool displays "Apple" in case of a valid (relative to generic CAs) certificate issued to "Apple". Hopefully that's not the case. Another risk is a specifically designed executable capable of compromising spctl.
Re: Validating Your Version of Xcode
#13Am I understanding this correctly: the devs who downloaded Xcode from an unknown source disabled gatekeeper to get it to run? That's unbelievably stupid dev behavior, if true.
That said, I have no idea why anybody would download XCode from a third party...
Re: Validating Your Version of Xcode
#14So, the next Trojan version of Xcode also needs to replace or corrupt spctl. I should look at it (on iPad currently), but it seems like the right combination of a custom Certificate Authority added to the keychain and signing your malicious Xcode with a certificate signed by the CA would help. Maybe also change the quarantine metadata on the file?
> seems like the right combination of a custom Certificate Authority added to the keychain and signing your malicious Xcode with a certificate signed by the CA would help nope. Gatekeeper only accepts certificates issued by Apple. The trojan would have to patch gatekeeper itself which will be difficult once people upgrade to 10.11 and keep the System Integrity Protection enabled. Even with all the bad feelings about…
https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/technotes/tn2206/_in...
Re: Validating Your Version of Xcode
#15Am I understanding this correctly: the devs who downloaded Xcode from an unknown source disabled gatekeeper to get it to run? That's unbelievably stupid dev behavior, if true.
I don't think having Gatekeeper disabled is a very big deal. It's one of the first things I disable on a new Mac. I've never had it stop an actual piece of malware, and it triggers false positives on practically everything. That said, I have no idea why anybody would download XCode from a third party...
Easily explainable really. Went to [their favorite search engine], searched for "Xcode download" and clicked the first result which may not be from Apple (or an advertising).
Re: Validating Your Version of Xcode
#16Am I understanding this correctly: the devs who downloaded Xcode from an unknown source disabled gatekeeper to get it to run? That's unbelievably stupid dev behavior, if true.
I don't think having Gatekeeper disabled is a very big deal. It's one of the first things I disable on a new Mac. I've never had it stop an actual piece of malware, and it triggers false positives on practically everything. That said, I have no idea why anybody would download XCode from a third party...
Re: Validating Your Version of Xcode
#17Am I understanding this correctly: the devs who downloaded Xcode from an unknown source disabled gatekeeper to get it to run? That's unbelievably stupid dev behavior, if true.
Downloading Xcode from a third party, now that's stupid.
Re: Validating Your Version of Xcode
#18Am I understanding this correctly: the devs who downloaded Xcode from an unknown source disabled gatekeeper to get it to run? That's unbelievably stupid dev behavior, if true.
Baidu isn't a very effective search engine and there are tons of people trying to get their mitts on user data including the government themselves.
Re: Validating Your Version of Xcode
#19So, the next Trojan version of Xcode also needs to replace or corrupt spctl. I should look at it (on iPad currently), but it seems like the right combination of a custom Certificate Authority added to the keychain and signing your malicious Xcode with a certificate signed by the CA would help. Maybe also change the quarantine metadata on the file?
I can't remember if Xcode asks for admin privileges or not when you install it... ...mind you, I guess that doesn't matter. If I unknowingly had a hacked version and it prompted me for my password at install, I would enter it.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26197347/agreeing-to-the...
This seems to even be required to run things like the stock git or gcc, which I've always wondered how that isn't a violation of the GPL.
Re: Validating Your Version of Xcode
#20Am I understanding this correctly: the devs who downloaded Xcode from an unknown source disabled gatekeeper to get it to run? That's unbelievably stupid dev behavior, if true.