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GhostRoot

⚠️ WARNING: This project is for educational and research purposes only. Do not deploy on unauthorized systems.

GhostRoot is a modular macOS rootkit framework targeting pre-SIP systems (macOS ≤ 10.14), showcasing multiple kernel and userland techniques for stealth, privilege escalation, and persistence.

Features

  • DKOM Process Hiding:
    Unlinks processes from allproc and PID hash tables via direct kernel object manipulation.

  • Launchd Job Unlinking:
    Traverses launchd’s internal job list and removes entries by label, making daemons invisible while active.

  • Privilege Escalation:
    Replaces task->itk_host with realhost->special[2] to gain the host_priv Mach port.

  • Kernel Memory R/W Access:
    Provides primitives to read/write memory of arbitrary kernel tasks using Mach APIs.

  • Unsigned KEXT Loader:
    Injects unsigned kernel extensions directly from memory using legacy syscalls on macOS ≤10.9.

  • Root Escalation via Authorization API:
    Uses deprecated AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges() to gain root access from userland.

  • Dylib Injection:
    Spawns remote threads using thread_set_state to inject .dylib into any task.

  • Filesystem and Log Stealth:
    Hides files from userland tools by hooking getdirentries64; clears unified logs and system records.

Directory Layout

GhostRoot/
├── build/                  # Compiled KEXT/dylib artifacts
├── dkom/                   # hide_process.c, dkom_utils.h
├── docs/                   # architecture.md (technical internals)
├── kernel_access/          # task_control.c, mem_rw.c
├── kext/                   # rootkit.kext/, Makefile
├── launchd/                # unlink_job.c, launchd_mem.h
├── loader/                 # mykextload.c, kext_request_stub.S
├── privilege/              # escalate.c, host_privilege.h
├── root_escalation/        # gain_root.m
├── stealth/                # hide_fs.c, clean_logs.sh
├── utils/                  # inject_dylib.m, symbols.py
└── README.md               # You're here

Requirements

  • macOS 10.6–10.14
  • Root access for kernel module loading
  • XNU headers and legacy SDK (e.g. 10.9) for compilation
  • jtool or nm to resolve kernel symbols

Disclaimer

Use of this code is strictly limited to lawful, ethical research and testing environments. The authors are not responsible for misuse or unauthorized deployment.