WebViews are in-app browser components for displaying interactive **web****content**. They can be used to embed web content directly into an app's user interface. iOS WebViews **support****JavaScript** execution **by default**, so script injection and Cross-Site Scripting attacks can affect them.
* \*\*\*\*[**UIWebView**](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiwebview)**:** UIWebView is deprecated starting on iOS 12 and should not be used. It shouldn't be used. JavaScript cannot be disabled.
* \*\*\*\*[**WKWebView**](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/webkit/wkwebview): This is the appropriate choice for extending app functionality, controlling displayed content.
* **JavaScript** is enabled by default but thanks to the **`javaScriptEnabled`** property of `WKWebView`, it **can be completely disabled**, preventing all script injection flaws.
* The **`JavaScriptCanOpenWindowsAutomatically`** can be used to **prevent** JavaScript from **opening new windows**, such as pop-ups.
* The **`hasOnlySecureContent`** property can be used to verify resources loaded by the WebView are retrieved through encrypted connections.
*`WKWebView` implements out-of-process rendering, so **memory corruption bugs won't affect** the main app process.
* \*\*\*\*[**SFSafariViewController**](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/safariservices/sfsafariviewcontroller)**:** It ****should be used to provide a **generalized web viewing experience**. These WebViews can be easily spotted as they have a characteristic layout which includes the following elements:
* A read-only address field with a security indicator.
* An Action \("**Share**"\) **button**.
* A **Done button**, back and forward navigation buttons, and a "Safari" button to open the page directly in Safari.
* **JavaScript cannot be disabled** in `SFSafariViewController` and this is one of the reasons why the usage of `WKWebView` is recommended when the goal is extending the app's user interface.
*`SFSafariViewController` also **shares cookies** and other website data with **Safari**.
* The user's activity and interaction with a `SFSafariViewController` are **not visible to the app**, which cannot access AutoFill data, browsing history, or website data.
* According to the App Store Review Guidelines, `SFSafariViewController`s **may not be hidden or obscured by other views or layers**.
Alternatively you can also search for known methods of these WebView classes. For example, search for the method used to initialize a WKWebView \([`init(frame:configuration:)`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/webkit/wkwebview/1414998-init)\):
For `WKWebView`s, as a best practice, JavaScript should be disabled unless it is explicitly required. To verify that JavaScript was properly disabled search the project for usages of `WKPreferences` and ensure that the [`javaScriptEnabled`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/webkit/wkpreferences/1536203-javascriptenabled) property is set to `false`:
```text
let webPreferences = WKPreferences()
webPreferences.javaScriptEnabled = false
```
If only having the compiled binary you can search for this in it:
In contrast to `UIWebView`s, when using `WKWebView`s it is possible to detect [mixed content](https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/security/prevent-mixed-content/fixing-mixed-content?hl=en) \(HTTP content loaded from a HTTPS page\). By using the method [`hasOnlySecureContent`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/webkit/wkwebview/1415002-hasonlysecurecontent) it can be verified whether all resources on the page have been loaded through securely encrypted connections.
You can also search in the source code or strings the string "http://". However, this doesn't necessary means that there is a mixed content issue. Learn more about mixed content in the [MDN Web Docs](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Security/Mixed_content).
### Dynamic Analysis
It's possible to inspect the heap via `ObjC.choose()` to find instances of the different types of WebViews and also search for the properties `javaScriptEnabled` and `hasonlysecurecontent`:
Several default schemes are available that are being interpreted in a WebView on iOS, for example:
* http\(s\)://
* file://
* tel://
WebViews can load remote content from an endpoint, but they can also load local content from the app data directory. If the local content is loaded, the user shouldn't be able to influence the filename or the path used to load the file, and users shouldn't be able to edit the loaded file.
### WebView content load
* **UIWebView**: It can use deprecated methods [`loadHTMLString:baseURL:`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiwebview/1617979-loadhtmlstring?language=objc) or [`loadData:MIMEType:textEncodingName:baseURL:`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiwebview/1617941-loaddata?language=objc)to load content.
* **WKWebView**: It can use the methods [`loadHTMLString:baseURL:`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/webkit/wkwebview/1415004-loadhtmlstring?language=objc) or [`loadData:MIMEType:textEncodingName:baseURL:`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/webkit/wkwebview/1415011-loaddata?language=objc) to load local HTML files and `loadRequest:` for web content. Typically, the local files are loaded in combination with methods including, among others: [`pathForResource:ofType:`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundation/nsbundle/1410989-pathforresource), [`URLForResource:withExtension:`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundation/nsbundle/1411540-urlforresource?language=objc) or [`init(contentsOf:encoding:)`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swift/string/3126736-init). In addition, you should also verify if the app is using the method [`loadFileURL:allowingReadAccessToURL:`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/webkit/wkwebview/1414973-loadfileurl?language=objc). Its first parameter is `URL` and contains the URL to be loaded in the WebView, its second parameter `allowingReadAccessToURL` may contain a single file or a directory. If containing a single file, that file will be available to the WebView. However, if it contains a directory, all files on that **directory will be made available to the WebView**. Therefore, it is worth inspecting this and in case it is a directory, verifying that no sensitive data can be found inside it.
If you have the source code you can search for those methods. Having the **compiled****binary** you can also search for these methods:
* File access from `file://` URLs is always enabled.
* Universal access from `file://` URLs is always enabled.
* If you retrieve the effective origin from a `UIWebView` where `baseURL` is also set to `nil` you will see that it is **not set to "null"**, instead you'll obtain something similar to the following: `applewebdata://5361016c-f4a0-4305-816b-65411fc1d78`0. This origin "applewebdata://" is similar to the "file://" origin as it **does not implement Same-Origin Policy** and allow access to local files and any web resources.
* **WKWebView**:
*`allowFileAccessFromFileURLs` \(`WKPreferences`, `false` by default\): it enables JavaScript running in the context of a `file://` scheme URL to access content from other `file://` scheme URLs.
*`allowUniversalAccessFromFileURLs` \(`WKWebViewConfiguration`, `false` by default\): it enables JavaScript running in the context of a `file://` scheme URL to access content from any origin.
You can search for those functions in the source code of the application or in the compiled binary.
Also, you can use the following frida script to find this information:
Since iOS 7, Apple introduced APIs that allow **communication between the JavaScript runtime in the WebView and the native** Swift or Objective-C objects.
There are two fundamental ways of how native code and JavaScript can communicate:
* **JSContext**: When an Objective-C or Swift block is assigned to an identifier in a `JSContext`, JavaScriptCore automatically wraps the block in a JavaScript function.
* **JSExport protocol**: Properties, instance methods and class methods declared in a `JSExport`-inherited protocol are mapped to JavaScript objects that are available to all JavaScript code. Modifications of objects that are in the JavaScript environment are reflected in the native environment.
Note that **only class members defined in the `JSExport`** protocol are made accessible to JavaScript code.
Look out for code that maps native objects to the `JSContext` associated with a WebView and analyze what functionality it exposes, for example no sensitive data should be accessible and exposed to WebViews.
In Objective-C, the `JSContext` associated with a `UIWebView` is obtained as follows:
JavaScript code in a **`WKWebView` can still send messages back to the native app but in contrast to `UIWebView`, it is not possible to directly reference the `JSContext`** of a `WKWebView`. Instead, communication is implemented using a messaging system and using the `postMessage` function, which automatically serializes JavaScript objects into native Objective-C or Swift objects. Message handlers are configured using the method [`add(_ scriptMessageHandler:name:)`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/webkit/wkusercontentcontroller/1537172-add).
### Enabling JavascriptBridge
```swift
func enableJavaScriptBridge(_ enabled: Bool) {
options_dict["javaScriptBridge"]?.value = enabled
let userContentController = wkWebViewConfiguration.userContentController
Adding a script message handler with name `"name"` \(or `"javaScriptBridge"` in the example above\) causes the JavaScript function `window.webkit.messageHandlers.myJavaScriptMessageHandler.postMessage` to be defined in all frames in all web views that use the user content controller. It can be then [used from the HTML file like this](https://github.com/authenticationfailure/WheresMyBrowser.iOS/blob/d4e2d9efbde8841bf7e4a8800418dda6bb116ec6/WheresMyBrowser/web/WKWebView/scenario3.html#L33):
The called function resides in [`JavaScriptBridgeMessageHandler.swift`](https://github.com/authenticationfailure/WheresMyBrowser.iOS/blob/b8d4abda4000aa509c7a5de79e5c90360d1d0849/WheresMyBrowser/JavaScriptBridgeMessageHandler.swift#L29):
```swift
class JavaScriptBridgeMessageHandler: NSObject, WKScriptMessageHandler {
//...
case "multiplyNumbers":
let arg1 = Double(messageArray[1])!
let arg2 = Double(messageArray[2])!
result = String(arg1 * arg2)
//...
let javaScriptCallBack = "javascriptBridgeCallBack('\(functionFromJS)','\(result)')"
In order to test send a postMessage inside an application you can:
* Change the servers response \(MitM\)
* Perform a dynamic instrumentation and inject the JavaScript payload by using frameworks like Frida and the corresponding JavaScript evaluation functions available for the iOS WebViews \([`stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiwebview/1617963-stringbyevaluatingjavascriptfrom?language=objc) for `UIWebView` and [`evaluateJavaScript:completionHandler:`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/webkit/wkwebview/1415017-evaluatejavascript?language=objc) for `WKWebView`\).
\(Tutorial from [https://blog.vuplex.com/debugging-webviews](https://blog.vuplex.com/debugging-webviews)\)
In iOS webviews, messages passed to `console.log()` are _not_ printed to the Xcode logs. It's still relatively easy to debug web content with Safari's developer tools, although there are a couple of limitations:
* Debugging iOS webviews requires Safari, so your dev computer must be running macOS.
* You can only debug webviews in applications loaded onto your device through Xcode. You can't debug webviews in apps installed through the App Store or Apple Configurator.
With those limitations in mind, here are the steps to remotely debug a webview in iOS:
* First, enable the Safari Web Inspector on your iOS device by opening the iOS _Settings_ app, navigating to **Settings > Safari > Advanced**, and toggling the _Web Inspector_ option on.
* Next, you must also enable developer tools in Safari on your dev computer. Launch Safari on your dev machine and navigate to **Safari > Preferences** in the menu bar. In the preferences pane that appears, click on the _Advanced_ tab and then enable the _Show Develop menu_ option at the bottom. After you do that, you can close the preferences pane.
* Connect your iOS device to your dev computer and launch your app.
* In Safari on your dev computer, click on _Develop_ in the menu bar and hover over the dropdown option that is your iOS device's name to show a list of webview instances running on your iOS device.
