How can I remove the code signature from a binary so that I can patch it without the binary refusing to run afterwards?
Needless to say, I'm not the original creator of the binary, nor I have the certs that were used to sign the binary.
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if the app's name I want to remove the code signature is a two words with space between them, how should I type it? Thanks in advance– user34480Commented Sep 24, 2020 at 2:29
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3 Answers
There are tools for that, as well as a codesign flag --remove-signature
First two should work the same. The codesign flag is undocumented and so YMMV (A user reported in a comment the codesign produced a corrupt executable).
You should use any of them with caution and backup the application before using them.
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Would you recommend me using one of those 3 tools in particular or any of those would work exactly the same for me and my use case? Commented Sep 30, 2016 at 12:13
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codesign --remove-signatureseems to create malformed executables, at least in some cases.– zneakCommented Sep 6, 2017 at 16:20 -
1@zneak thanks for sharing your experience. Edited my answer to note that.– NirIzrCommented Sep 6, 2017 at 16:27
Another blunt way that seemed to work for me on Catalina (note that this strips all attributes):
xattr -cr /path/to/your/program.app
codesign --remove-signature /path/to/binaryAppName
Tested it on macOS 10.15.3 Catalina, works perfectly.
You can edit the hex values of the now removed code signature binaries and it will launch on macOS with out a hitch.
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This answer doesn't offer any new information. The accepted answer (from 2016) already discusses the
codesign --remove-signatureapproach– julian ♦Commented Mar 19, 2020 at 15:40