Apple Neural Engine Internal: From ML Algorithm to HW Registers
summary
Claim that SEP firmware contains FaceID keys in plaintext and that FaceID logic and neural weights are reachable; toolchain work reproduces CoreML→mlmodelc→net.plist→model.hwx register ops and exposes that ANE firmware and AE compiler are unpackable and disassemblable. A custom disassembler and compiler wrapper (code on GitHub) is used; fuzzing CoreML inputs finds crashes, discovers pointer-related vulnerabilities and a kernel memory crash when munging model.hwx, and multiple issues are reported to Apple.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (10)
- 0:00Introduction and overview
- 1:52Face ID architecture
- 3:50Neural engine register logic
- 7:09Compilation process
- 10:07Privileged space analysis
- 13:24Core ML compiler operations
- 16:50Kernel driver and tools
- 19:48Disassembler implementation
- 21:24Attack surface evaluation
- 25:53Case studies and conclusions
related talks
40mReverse Engineering the Customized Pointer Authentication Hardware Implementation on Apple M1
49mDrill Apple Core: Up and Down - Fuzz Apple Core Component in Kernel and User Mode for Fun and Profit
40m(P)FACE into the Apple core and exploit to root
45mInside the Apple T2
43mDebug for Bug: Crack and Hack Apple Core by Itself
48mDemystifying the Secure Enclave Processor
37mKeynote - Hacking AI How to Survive the AI Uprising
53mBehind the Scenes of Intel Security and Manageability Engine