A Reverse Engineer’s Anatomy of the macOS Boot Chain & Security Architecture

Deep technical analysis of macOS boot chain security on Apple Silicon, covering hardware root of trust from Boot ROM through kernel initialization. Examines cryptographic verification mechanisms, Secure Enclave architecture, firmware loading stages (LLB, iBoot), and the new Tahoe security architecture with Guarded Execution Levels. Details hardware primitives like GID keys, Pointer Authentication, and the Secure Page Table Monitor (SPTM) that enforce isolation between Normal and Secure worlds. Provides reverse engineering techniques for analyzing boot components, AES decryption oracles, and SEP communication protocols.