hacktricks/macos-hardening/macos-security-and-privilege-escalation/mac-os-architecture/macos-ipc-inter-process-communication/macos-xpc-authorization.md

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# macOS XPC Authorization
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## XPC Authorization
Apple also proposes another way to authenticate if the connecting process has **permissions to call the an exposed XPC method**.
When an application needs to **execute actions as a privileged user**, instead of running the app as a privileged user it usually installs as root a HelperTool as an XPC service that could be acalled from the app to perform those actions. However, the app calling the service should have enough authorization.
### ShuoldAcceptNewConnection always YES
An example could be found in [EvenBetterAuthorizationSample](https://github.com/brenwell/EvenBetterAuthorizationSample). In `App/AppDelegate.m` it tries to **connect** to the **HelperTool**. And in `HelperTool/HelperTool.m` the function **`shouldAcceptNewConnection`** **won't check** any of the requirements indicated previously. It'll always return YES:
```objectivec
- (BOOL)listener:(NSXPCListener *)listener shouldAcceptNewConnection:(NSXPCConnection *)newConnection
// Called by our XPC listener when a new connection comes in. We configure the connection
// with our protocol and ourselves as the main object.
{
assert(listener == self.listener);
#pragma unused(listener)
assert(newConnection != nil);
newConnection.exportedInterface = [NSXPCInterface interfaceWithProtocol:@protocol(HelperToolProtocol)];
newConnection.exportedObject = self;
[newConnection resume];
return YES;
}
```
For more information about how to properly configure this check:
{% content-ref url="macos-xpc-connecting-process-check.md" %}
[macos-xpc-connecting-process-check.md](macos-xpc-connecting-process-check.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}
### Application rights
However, there is some **authorization going on when a method from the HelperTool is called**.
The function **`applicationDidFinishLaunching`** from `App/AppDelegate.m` will create an empty authorization reference after the app has started. This should always work.\
Then, it will try to **add some rights** to that authorization reference calling `setupAuthorizationRights`:
```objectivec
- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(NSNotification *)note
{
[...]
err = AuthorizationCreate(NULL, NULL, 0, &self->_authRef);
if (err == errAuthorizationSuccess) {
err = AuthorizationMakeExternalForm(self->_authRef, &extForm);
}
if (err == errAuthorizationSuccess) {
self.authorization = [[NSData alloc] initWithBytes:&extForm length:sizeof(extForm)];
}
assert(err == errAuthorizationSuccess);
// If we successfully connected to Authorization Services, add definitions for our default
// rights (unless they're already in the database).
if (self->_authRef) {
[Common setupAuthorizationRights:self->_authRef];
}
[self.window makeKeyAndOrderFront:self];
}
```
The function `setupAuthorizationRights` from `Common/Common.m` will store in the auth database `/var/db/auth.db` the rights of the application. Note how it will only add the rights that aren't yet in the database:
```objectivec
+ (void)setupAuthorizationRights:(AuthorizationRef)authRef
// See comment in header.
{
assert(authRef != NULL);
[Common enumerateRightsUsingBlock:^(NSString * authRightName, id authRightDefault, NSString * authRightDesc) {
OSStatus blockErr;
// First get the right. If we get back errAuthorizationDenied that means there's
// no current definition, so we add our default one.
blockErr = AuthorizationRightGet([authRightName UTF8String], NULL);
if (blockErr == errAuthorizationDenied) {
blockErr = AuthorizationRightSet(
authRef, // authRef
[authRightName UTF8String], // rightName
(__bridge CFTypeRef) authRightDefault, // rightDefinition
(__bridge CFStringRef) authRightDesc, // descriptionKey
NULL, // bundle (NULL implies main bundle)
CFSTR("Common") // localeTableName
);
assert(blockErr == errAuthorizationSuccess);
} else {
// A right already exists (err == noErr) or any other error occurs, we
// assume that it has been set up in advance by the system administrator or
// this is the second time we've run. Either way, there's nothing more for
// us to do.
}
}];
}
```
The function `enumerateRightsUsingBlock` is the one used to get applications permissions, which are defined in `commandInfo`:
```objectivec
static NSString * kCommandKeyAuthRightName = @"authRightName";
static NSString * kCommandKeyAuthRightDefault = @"authRightDefault";
static NSString * kCommandKeyAuthRightDesc = @"authRightDescription";
+ (NSDictionary *)commandInfo
{
static dispatch_once_t sOnceToken;
static NSDictionary * sCommandInfo;
dispatch_once(&sOnceToken, ^{
sCommandInfo = @{
NSStringFromSelector(@selector(readLicenseKeyAuthorization:withReply:)) : @{
kCommandKeyAuthRightName : @"com.example.apple-samplecode.EBAS.readLicenseKey",
kCommandKeyAuthRightDefault : @kAuthorizationRuleClassAllow,
kCommandKeyAuthRightDesc : NSLocalizedString(
@"EBAS is trying to read its license key.",
@"prompt shown when user is required to authorize to read the license key"
)
},
NSStringFromSelector(@selector(writeLicenseKey:authorization:withReply:)) : @{
kCommandKeyAuthRightName : @"com.example.apple-samplecode.EBAS.writeLicenseKey",
kCommandKeyAuthRightDefault : @kAuthorizationRuleAuthenticateAsAdmin,
kCommandKeyAuthRightDesc : NSLocalizedString(
@"EBAS is trying to write its license key.",
@"prompt shown when user is required to authorize to write the license key"
)
},
NSStringFromSelector(@selector(bindToLowNumberPortAuthorization:withReply:)) : @{
kCommandKeyAuthRightName : @"com.example.apple-samplecode.EBAS.startWebService",
kCommandKeyAuthRightDefault : @kAuthorizationRuleClassAllow,
kCommandKeyAuthRightDesc : NSLocalizedString(
@"EBAS is trying to start its web service.",
@"prompt shown when user is required to authorize to start the web service"
)
}
};
});
return sCommandInfo;
}
+ (NSString *)authorizationRightForCommand:(SEL)command
// See comment in header.
{
return [self commandInfo][NSStringFromSelector(command)][kCommandKeyAuthRightName];
}
+ (void)enumerateRightsUsingBlock:(void (^)(NSString * authRightName, id authRightDefault, NSString * authRightDesc))block
// Calls the supplied block with information about each known authorization right..
{
[self.commandInfo enumerateKeysAndObjectsUsingBlock:^(id key, id obj, BOOL *stop) {
#pragma unused(key)
#pragma unused(stop)
NSDictionary * commandDict;
NSString * authRightName;
id authRightDefault;
NSString * authRightDesc;
// If any of the following asserts fire it's likely that you've got a bug
// in sCommandInfo.
commandDict = (NSDictionary *) obj;
assert([commandDict isKindOfClass:[NSDictionary class]]);
authRightName = [commandDict objectForKey:kCommandKeyAuthRightName];
assert([authRightName isKindOfClass:[NSString class]]);
authRightDefault = [commandDict objectForKey:kCommandKeyAuthRightDefault];
assert(authRightDefault != nil);
authRightDesc = [commandDict objectForKey:kCommandKeyAuthRightDesc];
assert([authRightDesc isKindOfClass:[NSString class]]);
block(authRightName, authRightDefault, authRightDesc);
}];
}
```
This means that at the end of this process, the permissions declared inside `commandInfo` will be stored in `/var/db/auth.db`. Note how there you can find for **each method** that will r**equire authentication**, **permission name** and the **`kCommandKeyAuthRightDefault`**. The later one **indicates who can get this right**.
There are different scopes to indicate who can access a right. They are defined in [AuthorizationDB.h](https://github.com/aosm/Security/blob/master/Security/libsecurity\_authorization/lib/AuthorizationDB.h), but as summary:
| Name | Value | Description |
| ------------------------------------------- | -------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| kAuthorizationRuleClassAllow | allow | Anyone |
| kAuthorizationRuleClassDeny | deny | Nobody |
| kAuthorizationRuleIsAdmin | is-admin | Current user needs to be an admin |
| kAuthorizationRuleAuthenticateAsSessionUser | authenticate-session-owner | Ask user to authenticate. |
| kAuthorizationRuleAuthenticateAsAdmin | authenticate-admin | Ask user to authenticate. He needs to be an admin |
| kAuthorizationRightRule | rule | Specify rules |
| kAuthorizationComment | comment | Specify some extra comments on the right |
### Rights Verification
In `HelperTool/HelperTool.m` the function `readLicenseKeyAuthorization` checks if the caller is authorized to **execute such method** calling the function **`checkAuthorization`**. This function will check the **authData** sent by the calling process has a **correct format** and then will check **what is needed to get the right** to call the specific method. If all goes good the **returned `error` will be `nil`**:
```objectivec
- (NSError *)checkAuthorization:(NSData *)authData command:(SEL)command
{
[...]
// First check that authData looks reasonable.
error = nil;
if ( (authData == nil) || ([authData length] != sizeof(AuthorizationExternalForm)) ) {
error = [NSError errorWithDomain:NSOSStatusErrorDomain code:paramErr userInfo:nil];
}
// Create an authorization ref from that the external form data contained within.
if (error == nil) {
err = AuthorizationCreateFromExternalForm([authData bytes], &authRef);
// Authorize the right associated with the command.
if (err == errAuthorizationSuccess) {
AuthorizationItem oneRight = { NULL, 0, NULL, 0 };
AuthorizationRights rights = { 1, &oneRight };
oneRight.name = [[Common authorizationRightForCommand:command] UTF8String];
assert(oneRight.name != NULL);
err = AuthorizationCopyRights(
authRef,
&rights,
NULL,
kAuthorizationFlagExtendRights | kAuthorizationFlagInteractionAllowed,
NULL
);
}
if (err != errAuthorizationSuccess) {
error = [NSError errorWithDomain:NSOSStatusErrorDomain code:err userInfo:nil];
}
}
if (authRef != NULL) {
junk = AuthorizationFree(authRef, 0);
assert(junk == errAuthorizationSuccess);
}
return error;
}
```
Note that to **check the requirements to get the right** to call that method the function `authorizationRightForCommand` will just check the previously comment object **`commandInfo`**.
In this case, to call the function `readLicenseKeyAuthorization` the `kCommandKeyAuthRightDefault` is defined to `@kAuthorizationRuleClassAllow`. So **anyone can call it**.
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</details>