no-exit-please (iOS) 🛑

A universal Frida script to bypass application self-termination at both Objective-C and native levels on iOS.

Designed for penetration testing, ethical hacking, reverse engineering, bug bounty and dynamic analysis of iOS applications that intentionally terminate when security checks (jailbreak detection, tampering, instrumentation) are triggered.

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The Problem

Many iOS applications implement defensive logic such as:

Jailbreak detection Debugger detection Instrumentation detection Tamper detection

When a risky condition is detected, the common enforcement strategy is:

Throw exception → call abort/exit → terminate process

Instead of enforcing security server-side or cryptographically, apps often rely on process termination as enforcement.

If the app cannot exit, the protection collapses.

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What This Script Does

no_exit_please_ios.js bypasses termination-based enforcement by intercepting:

Native termination paths

• exit
• _exit
• abort
• kill
• pthread_exit
• __assert_rtn

Objective-C / runtime termination mechanisms

• UIApplication - terminateWithSuccess
• NSException - raise
• objc_exception_throw

Detection may still execute - but it no longer achieves its intended outcome.

The process stays alive.

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Why This Works

Many iOS security implementations assume:

"If a risky condition is detected, the app can safely terminate."

That assumption fails when termination paths are hooked.

By blocking exit calls:

• Jailbroken environments remain usable
• Instrumentation continues uninterrupted
• Exceptions no longer crash the app
• Anti-debug or assert-based crashes lose impact

This shifts the engagement from bypassing dozens of checks to neutralizing their enforcement mechanism.

It targets the response, not the detection.

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Features

Native-Level Hooks (libSystem)

• exit
• _exit
• abort
• kill
• pthread_exit
• __assert_rtn

These are commonly used for hard process termination or assertion-based crashes.

Objective-C Runtime Hooks

• UIApplication - terminateWithSuccess
• NSException - raise
• objc_exception_throw

These intercept exception-driven or runtime-triggered crash flows.

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In action

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Usage

Spawn and hook (recommended)

frida -U -f com.target.app -l no_exit_please_ios.js

frida -U -N com.target.app -l no_exit_please_ios.js