on ios binary protections

This article explains how to enumerate and interpret iOS binary protection mechanisms—Position Independent Executable (PIE), Automatic Reference Counting (ARC), and stack canaries—using objection (Frida), the Node.js macho parser, and tools like radare2/checksec. It clarifies detection heuristics (e.g., PIE via Mach-O flags, ARC inferred by objc_release import, canaries via __stack_chk_fail), highlights applicability nuances across executables vs libraries and Objective-C vs Swift code, and notes pitfalls (false positives/negatives, Swift canary detection). It concludes with practical guidance for enabling protections in build settings (e.g., -fPIC, ARC settings, -fstack-protector-all) and emphasizes checking all app frameworks.