Table of Contents
atvproxy
The atvproxy is a helper script used to intercept traffic by doing versions
of MITM “attacks” (it’s not really attacks). It can help when reverse engineering
a new protocol or exploring new features in an already well-known protocol,
like AirPlay, Companion or MRP.
Currently this script support AirPlay (for which it can fully output decrypted control channel messages, but not play media), Companion (fully output decrypted messages), MRP (fully output decrypted messages) and a “relay” mode, which just sits between two devices and prints the traffic. The latter is meant for simplifying reverse engineering of new protocols.
Note: This is an incubating script and may change behavior with short notice. It also depends on the internal API, meaning you should not use it as a reference for your own projects.
AirPlay Proxy
Due to AirPlay using encryption, it’s not possible to capture the traffic using for instance Wireshark and analyze it. Since it’s very hard to extract the used keys, decryption is more or less not possible. To circumvent this, you can use the AirPlay Proxy. It will publish a proxy device on the network, that it is possible to pair with using an iOS device. The proxy itself will establish a connection to the device of interest and relay messages between your iOS device and the Apple TV. One set of encryption keys are used between the proxy and Apple TV and another set between the proxy and your iOS device.
A private key is hardcoded into the proxy, so you can re-connect to it again multiple times without having to re-pair. Even when restarting the proxy. This of course means that there is no security when using the proxy.
Device Credentials
For an Apple TV the proxy needs credentials to your device, so pair with it
using atvremote if you have not done so already:
$ atvremote --id <device id> --protocol airplay pair
Save the generated credentials to a file, for instance creds_airplay.
HomePods use transient pairing and do not need credentials.
Running the Proxy
In order to run the proxy you need to provide credentials (created above) and IP address of the device. You can find the address by scanning:
$ atvremote scan
========================================
Name: Living Room
Model/SW: 4K tvOS 13.3.1 build 17K795
Address: 10.0.0.10
MAC: AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF
Identifiers:
- 01234567-89AB-CDEF-0123-4567890ABCDE
- 00:11:22:33:44:55
Services:
- Protocol: MRP, Port: 49152, Credentials: None
- Protocol: AirPlay, Port: 7000, Credentials: None
To run the proxy to an Apple TV, run:
$ atvproxy airplay 10.0.0.10 --credentials=`cat creds_airplay`
To proxy to a HomePod without credentials, run (insert IP address to HomePod):
$ atvproxy airplay <ip>
Manual Settings
The script will automatically try to figure out which AirPlay port to use with
unicast scanning and IP address of a local interface on the same network as the
device. You can however provide these parameters manually with --remote-port
and --local-ip.
Pairing and Looking at Traffic
Open the AirPlay speaker selector from the Now Playing widget in action center,
select the device called Proxy and if asked use pin code 1111 to pair (only
needed once). AirPlay controls should work and behave as expected and all
control traffic should be logged to console. Playing media is not supported.
Companion Proxy
There is also support for the Companion protocol.
Device Credentials
The proxy needs credentials to your device, so pair with it using atvremote
unless you have not done so already:
$ atvremote --id <device id> --protocol companion pair
Save the generated credentials to a file, for instance creds_comp.
Running the proxy
To run the proxy, run (insert IP address to Apple TV):
$ atvproxy companion `cat creds_mrp` <ip>
It will appear as a device called Proxy on the network.
Manual Settings
The script will automatically try to figure out which port Companion uses with
unicast scanning. You can however provide this parameter with --remote-port
if you want.
Pairing and Looking at Traffic
Open up the remote widget in action center, select the device called Proxy and
use pin code 1111 to pair (only needed once). Everything of interest is logged to the
console by default.
MRP Proxy
There is also support for the legacy un-encapsulated MRP protocol, which was available prior to tvOS 15.
Device Credentials
The proxy needs credentials to your device, so pair with it using atvremote
unless you have not done so already:
$ atvremote --id <device id> --protocol mrp pair
Save the generated credentials to a file, for instance creds_mrp.
Running the Proxy
In order to run the proxy you need to provide credentials (created above) and IP address of the device. You can find the address by scanning:
$ atvremote scan
========================================
Name: Living Room
Model/SW: 4K tvOS 13.3.1 build 17K795
Address: 10.0.0.10
MAC: AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF
Identifiers:
- 01234567-89AB-CDEF-0123-4567890ABCDE
- 00:11:22:33:44:55
Services:
- Protocol: MRP, Port: 49152, Credentials: None
- Protocol: AirPlay, Port: 7000, Credentials: None
To run the proxy, run:
$ atvproxy mrp `cat creds_mrp` 10.0.0.10
Manual Settings
The script will automatically try to figure out which MRP port to use with
unicast scanning, IP address of a local interface on the same network as the
device as well as the device name. You can however provide these parameters
manually with --remote-port, --local-ip and --name.
Pairing and Looking at Traffic
Open the Remote app and select the device called XXX Proxy, where XXX
is the name of your Apple TV. Use pin code 1111 when pairing. The app should
work and behave as expected and all traffic should be logged to console.
Relay Proxy
Sometimes it’s convenient to be able to look at network traffic when reverse engineering a protocol. Wireshark is really good for that, but requires a tap somewhere to see the traffic (not always easy). To simplify this, the relay proxy can be used. It sets up arbitrary zeroconf service (e.g. you can specify the properties manually) and combines it with a local server that will send all traffic to another host and relay data back from the same host. Basically man-in-the-middle (MITM). It does nothing with the data other than relaying it between the two hosts and printing it to the console. So it is merely designed for looking at small data exchanges to discover patterns.
Running the Relay
You need a couple of things to run the relay proxy:
- IP address and port of the target hosts
- IP address of a local interface on the same network as the target
- The name to be used when publishing the service, e.g. ATV Relay
- Zeroconf service, e.g. _mediaremotetv._tcp.local.
- Properties to include with the service (one or more key-value pairs)
It is easiest to run atvproxy relay --help to see the order. See examples
below for some inspiration.
Note: Only string values are supported for properties at this stage.
Examples
Here is an example for MRP:
$ atvproxy -p ModelName="Apple TV" \
AllowPairing=YES \
BluetoothAddress=00:11:22:33:44:55 \
macAddress=aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff \
Name=Vardagsrum \
UniqueIdentifier=46CE1111-3B67-48EF-AAB1-77BCF67C886A \
SystemBuildVersion=17L256 \
LocalAirPlayReceiverPairingIdentity=7C7878A9-9AC2-7D93-852F-A91312B98AF9 \
-- 10.0.10.254 10.0.10.81 49152 TestATV _mediaremotetv._tcp.local.
The local IP (on the computer running atvproxy is 10.0.10.254), IP
address and MRP port is 10.0.10.81 and 49152. When browsing for devices,
it will be called TestATV.
Note that – is used to separate properties from other configuration values.