Guardsquare Announces Latest Update to iOS Mobile App Security Solution

Today we are proud to announce the release of the most recent version of Guardsquare’s mobile app security solution: iXGuard 4.3 for iOS.

With this new version, we have enhanced usability with new debugging features and improved security with new state-of-the-art jailbreak detections.

Let’s take a closer look at some of these enhancements:

Debugging Improvements

Added debug information for protection features

iXGuard protection features will inject code, merge functions or inline functions to greatly improve resilience. These effects are crucial but also affect debugging capabilities for the developer. Therefore, iXGuard will now enhance the debug information that is generated as part of the compilation process. This helps distinguish application code from iXGuard injected code and provides more insight into the obfuscation effects during crash log investigations, debugger sessions, or when profiling performance.

• iXGuard identifies verification logic and exit methods within stack traces.
• When profiling your app (e.g. using Instruments), iXGuard code will be distinguishable from original code.

Automated deobfuscation of crash logs

In order to read stack traces of obfuscated apps, iXGuard always provides a mapping file (mapping.yml) that has to be consulted when translating function names. To streamline this process, iXGuard will now create deobfuscated dSYMs that can be plugged into your favorite crash analysis tool (e.g., Bugsnag, New Relic, Crashlytics, etc. to automatically deobfuscate stack traces.

• Automatically generate deobfuscated .dSYM files when exporting without bitcode.
• Add command line tool to deobfuscate .dSYM files acquired from App Store Connect after uploading bitcode-enabled IPAs.

New State-Of-The-Art Jailbreak Detections

Keeping up with the latest jailbreak advancements requires continuous updating of our jailbreak detection mechanisms. New exploits and improved tweaks make it harder to consistently detect jailbroken devices without introducing new detection techniques. iXGuard’s jailbreak detection capabilities now include techniques like kernel-based hiding and APFS tricks to determine if apps are running on jailbroken devices.