Modern iOS Security Features -- A Deep Dive into SPTM, TXM, and Exclaves · HackerPapers discussions

Modern iOS Security Features -- A Deep Dive into SPTM, TXM, and Exclaves — mentioned by matthewfcarlson

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 22:26:38 GMT

There is a ton of fascinating work to make the "software" camera in use indicator just as secure if not more secure than an LED attached to the power lines of the camera. Apple hasn't publicly talked about it much but here are two sources that aren't terrible. https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.09272 https://randomaugustine.medium.com/on-apple-exclaves-d683a2c... https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/03/19/on-apple-exclav... We've seen a few examples on HN lately (Coruna iOS Exploit Kit) of nation state level exploits in the hands of financially motivated organizations. I'm not free of bias here but…

Paper and discussion history. A mention is not an endorsement.

Modern iOS Security Features -- A Deep Dive into SPTM, TXM, and Exclaves — mentioned by foltik

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 15:03:50 GMT

From our knowing how it works [0] it’s just a mechanism for the kernel to give up some privileges and add extra security checks when modifying page tables. Sounds easy to emulate to me: just don’t do the checks and modify the page tables directly. Do you have some reason to believe it can’t be emulated? If for some reason it’s difficult, the relevant kernel code could also be hooked or patched. [0] https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.09272

Paper and discussion history. A mention is not an endorsement.

Modern iOS Security Features -- A Deep Dive into SPTM, TXM, and Exclaves — HN submission

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 18:23:15 GMT

Modern iOS Security Features – A Deep Dive into SPTM, TXM, and Exclaves

237 points; 32 discussion replies on HN. Paper and source history. A submission is not an endorsement.