Apple's iPhone 15: Hardware Hacking and USB-C Debugging - 37C3

Explore the evolution of iPhone hardware hacking and the new challenges presented by the iPhone 15's USB-C port in this 36-minute conference talk. Delve into the history of Lightning-based iPhone debugging tools like the Kanzi, Kong, and Bonobo cables, and learn how they became obsolete with the introduction of USB-C. Discover how researchers adapted existing tools and developed new hardware and software solutions to access the JTAG interface on the iPhone 15. Gain insights into the use of USB-C's Vendor Defined Messages (VDM) for debugging Apple Silicon devices, and learn about the open-source Tamarin-C firmware for integrated debugging of iPhone 15 and other Apple Silicon devices. Understand the limitations of these techniques on production iPhones and the potential for future work in this field.