Download and execute iOS code dynamically at runtime

Question

As an academic and mental exercise, how would one download a precompiled binary file and execute methods in it on an iOS device?

I understand this violates Apple's License Agreement, section 3.2.2, but I am asking for personal projects and to learn more about the iOS runtime.

Goal

What I've tried

I haven't attempted anything concrete, but I would imagine that it would be possible to do something along the lines of...

void *myDownloadedLibrary = dlopen("/path/to/newly/downloaded/framework/MyCoolBinary.framework")
dlsym(myDownloadedLibrary)

Any examples or pointers on what kind of libraries this would work with would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Dimitar Marinov · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-20 21:48:15Z

3

Try something like

void *uikit = dlopen("path_to_dylib", RTLD_LAZY);
id (*FunctionName)(id) = dlsym(uikit, "FunctionName");
FunctionName(arg1);
dlclose(uikit);

For more information you can read about dynamic loading here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_loading

answered Apr 20, 2014 at 21:48

Dimitar Marinov

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1 Comment

is this valid? will a app with this kind of code be approved?