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Apple Says iOS Kernel Cache Left Unencrypted Intentionally, Nothing To Worry About (loopinsight.com)
The iOS 10 kernel, which Apple released to enthusiasts last week, is not encrypted, according to a report. Security experts expressed their surprise and puzzlement over this in a report by MIT News. The iPhone maker, after remaining tight-lipped over the matter for a week, has now offered an explanation. In a statement to The Loop, Apple said: The kernel cache doesn't contain any user info, and by unencrypting it we're able to optimize the operating system's performance without compromising security.It is worth mentioning that Apple is talking about kernel's cache, whereas MIT News' original report talks about kernel code.
That's actually not how it works. The decryption key is burned into the processor, that is why there is a different firmware image for different versions of the phone. Only some of the phone versions (older ones) have had their keys extracted and released. Also, with new technologies like SGX (shipped in some current desktop CPUs and soon phones) software publishers will be able to write code that can only be decrypted in the hardware's trusted enclave, so the key can never be observed. So stop yelling please when you don't know what you're talking about.
The Linux Kernel: NOT ENCRYPTED. Go panic now, the world is ending.
In fact, do you know that Linus Torvalds has personally made it possible for the MUTHAFUCKIN NSA to read every single line of source code in the Linux Kernel??
Just think about that the next time "they" tell you that it's OK for your computer to SEND IT'S DAMN IP ADDRESS OUT TO THE INTERNET!
The black helicopters are coming for me man!!
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
Kernel cache is what they call the encrypted container that has the kernel in it. The article is not wrong, just a nonstandard use of the term.
Is the new iOS running on Apple's new filesystem? Supposedly part of the features of the new filesystem is that it has greater control over file encryption. Given this explanation, it may be that they previously encrypted the kernel because it was the best way to encrypt user data, whereas with a new filesystem they may be able to encrypt the files they want to encrypt without needing to encrypt anything else.
Just a shot in the dark, though.
To be fair, Apple uses a weird terminology with regard to the kernel in iOS (don't know about macs or any other XNU-running devices, don't have any experience with them)
the kernel in iOS is in fact called a kernel cache. It's prelinked, ready to be dumped into memory and executed.
Apple is in fact referring to the kernel when are talking about the kernel cache.
Apple and "security experts" are talking about the same thing.