Donncha Ó CearbhaillandDonncha Ó Cearbhaill
097766a63b
* Add namespaced plugin configuration support Plugin packages need somewhere to keep their own settings, but MVT rewrites its config.yaml with only the fields it knows about, so any foreign section is dropped. Add MVTPluginSettings, a pydantic-settings base class that gives each plugin its own file under the MVT config folder and its own MVT_PLUGIN_<NAME>_ environment variable namespace. Settings resolve from constructor arguments, then the environment, then the plugin file, then the field defaults. Saving skips the values the environment currently supplies, so credentials passed as environment variables are not copied to disk, and writes through a private temporary file so a settings file is never partially written or briefly readable by other users. * Add per-plugin data folders Plugins had no sanctioned place to keep the data they persist, so the plugin configuration documentation suggested a CACHE_FOLDER setting defaulting to ~/.cache/example-plugin. That is a Linux convention which is wrong on macOS, nothing expands or creates it, and it turns a path into a setting a user can be asked to configure. Add plugin_data_folder(), which returns the folder a plugin should use for caches, downloaded artifacts, synchronization state or anything else it writes to disk, and creates it if it is missing. The plugin name is validated before anything is created, so a name holding a path separator raises an error and leaves no folder behind, and calling the function again returns the same folder with its contents untouched. The folder sits under plugin-data rather than under the plugins folder which holds the settings files. On macOS the configuration folder and the data folder are the same directory, so reusing the plugins name would leave each plugin's data folder in among the settings files. Both the plugin-data folder and the folder of each plugin are created with 0700 permissions. MVT is a forensic tool, and what a plugin keeps there, such as API responses or sample metadata, is private by default. The path is resolved on every call, as the configuration folder already is, so it follows the current environment rather than whatever it was when MVT was imported. The documentation now points plugins at the helper, and the example settings class carries a plain integer setting in place of its cache folder. * Derive the data folder of a plugin from its settings class A plugin with a settings class already names itself in `plugin_name`; passing the name again to plugin_data_folder() repeats it and can drift. Add a `data_folder()` class method on MVTPluginSettings which returns plugin_data_folder() for the class's validated plugin name (works on the class and on an instance); plugin_data_folder(name) stays as the function underneath for plugins without a settings class. --------- Co-authored-by: Donncha Ó Cearbhaill <google@donncha.is>
Mobile Verification Toolkit
Important
We recently merged the "v3" branch. This introduced breaking changes. If you relied on mvt output in other scripts They might have broken. More details: https://github.com/mvt-project/mvt/issues/757
Mobile Verification Toolkit (MVT) is a collection of utilities to simplify and automate the process of gathering forensic traces helpful to identify a potential compromise of Android and iOS devices.
It has been developed and released by the Amnesty International Security Lab in July 2021 in the context of the Pegasus Project along with a technical forensic methodology. It continues to be maintained by Amnesty International and other contributors.
Note
MVT is a forensic research tool intended for technologists and investigators. It requires understanding digital forensics and using command-line tools. This is not intended for end-user self-assessment. If you are concerned with the security of your device please seek reputable expert assistance.
Indicators of Compromise
MVT supports using public indicators of compromise (IOCs) to scan mobile devices for potential traces of targeting or infection by known spyware campaigns. This includes IOCs published by Amnesty International and other research groups.
Warning
Public indicators of compromise are insufficient to determine that a device is "clean", and not targeted with a particular spyware tool. Reliance on public indicators alone can miss recent forensic traces and give a false sense of security.
Reliable and comprehensive digital forensic support and triage requires access to non-public indicators, research and threat intelligence.
Such support is available to civil society through Amnesty International's Security Lab or through our forensic partnership with Access Now’s Digital Security Helpline.
More information about using indicators of compromise with MVT is available in the documentation.
Installation
MVT can be installed from sources or from PyPI (you will need some dependencies, check the documentation):
pip3 install mvt
You can also install MVT from PyPI with uv. First, install uv:
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
Then install MVT as a command-line tool:
uv tool install mvt
For alternative installation options and known issues, please refer to the documentation as well as GitHub Issues.
Usage
MVT provides two commands mvt-ios and mvt-android. Check out the documentation to learn how to use them!
Shell completion
MVT can generate shell completion scripts for Bash, Zsh, and Fish:
mvt-ios completion
mvt-android completion
The commands print setup instructions by default. To generate a completion script directly, pass the shell name:
mvt-ios completion bash
mvt-android completion zsh
MVT only writes completion files or shell configuration when --install is passed. See the command completion documentation for details.
Module-running check-* commands can load custom Python modules with
--load-module PATH or from a folder set in MVT_CUSTOM_MODULES. See the
development documentation for
details.
Users can also add top-level commands to mvt-ios and mvt-android from
installed Python packages or local files and folders. See the
custom CLI command documentation
for the plugin entry points and --load-command interface.
License
The purpose of MVT is to facilitate the consensual forensic analysis of devices of those who might be targets of sophisticated mobile spyware attacks, especially members of civil society and marginalized communities. We do not want MVT to enable privacy violations of non-consenting individuals. In order to achieve this, MVT is released under its own license. Read more here.