# alephsecurity/xnu-qemu-arm64

Repository: https://github.com/alephsecurity/xnu-qemu-arm64
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/xnu-qemu-arm64
Language: C
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2021-09-16T16:44:58+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2646, "days_push": 1812, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1460, forks 128 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:47.362737+00:00)

## What it is
A fork of QEMU that emulates an iPhone (iPhone 6s Plus) well enough to boot a fully functional iOS 12.1 system, including launchd, bash, SSH tunneling, and kernel debugging with GDB scripts. It patches the XNU kernel to bypass CoreTrust, disable Secure Monitor and ASLR, and enable KVM acceleration for iOS security research.

## Use cases
- boot iOS in an emulator for security research
- debug the XNU kernel with GDB
- run unsigned binaries on emulated iOS
- research iOS kernel exploitation
- emulate an iPhone without real hardware
- accelerate iOS emulation with KVM

## When to choose
- you need a virtualized iOS environment for kernel or security research
- you want to debug the XNU kernel with GDB scripts
- you need to run unsigned code on iOS in a controlled environment

## When to avoid
- you need a modern iOS version or newer devices
- you want a stable, production-grade iOS emulator
- you need GPU-accelerated or UI-level iOS apps

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: experimental
- function: simulation, security, reverse-engineering, developer-tools
- domain: security, reverse-engineering, operating-systems, developer-tools
- platform: cli
- tags: qemu, ios-emulation, xnu-kernel, kernel-debugging, kvm, virtualization, security-research, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- alephsecurity/xnu-qemu-arm64 (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:47.362737+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:35:23.358914+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/alephsecurity/xnu-qemu-arm64 (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:47.362737+00:00, sha 7e464c551d8e)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.