iLOK STATE OF THE ART:
We are noticed that many people are confused about iLok protection. PACE and
its iLok has long history, and there are lots of option and integration. We
think it's better to clarify the difference of them.
PACE.......... First generation of packer type protection. Some options to
steal call, hooking INT3 (easily conflicts with other strong
protections).
RND1.......... First generation of crypto. Used for content protection like
UVI Engine, EastWest PLAY, and old XILS targets. Never been
cracked publicly.
iLok.......... Well known garbage. PACE.Inc still claims iLok has never been
tampered and it's true. What crackers tampered is not iLok but
wrappers. iLok is still safe. So what?
WrapWarden.... Second generation of packer type protection. Available since
iLok2 appeared. Has much better compatibility than first PACE
packer.
AIR Music (WrapWarden/iLok)
Eventide (WrapWaden/iLok)
Audified (WrapWarden/iLok)
Most iLok protected softwares are packed by WrapWarden. But
some targets like XILS, GRM, ProTools etc does not use, and
we think it's enough because they are using some stronger
technics to avoid being cracked. WrapWarden is not a big
problem for the cracker who can attack to the stronger
options or integrations.
Fusion........ SDK for iLok. It makes developer to access to iLok from their
software and has some additional functions.
NuGen Audio (WrapWarden/Fusion/iLok)
... Fusion is used for checking custom license.
Flux (WrapWaden/Fusion/iLok)
... WrapWarden does not check the license. Fusion does. This
is because Flux supports "Flux Dongle" too. If WrapWarden
checks the license, "Flux Dongle" users cannot load the
plugin at all.
Fusion is just a SDK. It is developer who decides how to use.
Without WrapWarden or MetaFortress, some easy Fusion targets
are cracked like other normal software.
Melodyne (Fusion/iLok + Custom)
... That's why this is tampered by many crackers. However
Melodyne has another trick to detect being cracked.
DrMS v4.0.0 (Fusion/iLok)
... It had just a simple iLok check. Being cracked without
problem. v4.0.1 and later has WrapWarden and MetaFortress
protection.
MetaFortress.. Anti tampering technology developed by Metaforic.Inc. Fusion
SDK supports MetaFortress integration (if developer pays more
money). File size will increase and app runs much slower than
unprotected one because of the constant modification check.
Inserting SEVERAL THOUSANDS code verification to the app. The
performance is massively affected and some developers even
mention to this loss.
Quoting the comment from the developer of Emprical Labs,
"Empirical Labs has decided to do another short Alpha test of
our Compressor Plugin starting this week. We have implemented
Fusion 3 and are already testing things in house, but...
because the iLok software is so invasive and can drastically
affect performance, we feel the need to make sure we haven't
screwed anything up with another short Alpha cycle."
ProTools (Fusion/MetaFortress/iLok)
SlateDigital (WrapWarden/Fusion/MetaFortress/iLok)
Softube (Fusion/MetaFortress/iLok)
AROUSOR (WrapWarden/Fusion/MetaFortress/iLok)
MetaFortress is also used to consumer game because it is not
developed by PACE.Inc. One of the most famous title using MF
"Kirby's Return to Dreamland" by Nintendo.
EDEN.......... Second generation of crypto. Used by recent library of UVI,
EastWest, and other few other big library software.
Probably you may know, simple license check can be bypassed but you can't
do that for crypto, just like you can't extract protected zip without correct
password. In the long history, most integration from PACE.Inc has been
compromised but crypto has never been done in the past, as you can't find
any working cracks of UVI or PLAY engine (and XILS till now). Some *users*
are still requesting UNLOCKED version of them but it won't happen. In theory,
all libraries need to be processed one by one.
MCFACT STATE OF THE ART:
McFACT is a core cryptography of eLicenser. It's not a exe protector or code
obfuscator like other famous protections.
We feel it's pretty lame to explain about McFACT because we haven't released
any real emulators or attacks to this cryptography. We can't complain if we
will be refuted by the legendary crackers.
The key of this protection is "run the encrypted code virtually without any
decryption". If you have experience running bad cracks of eLicenser, you
would find the constant crash and improper workings. This happens because
encrypted code wasn't running "as it is".
In short, this is how McFACT works (not really correct though),
(EncryptedCode) * (ProductKey) * (ValidLicense) = Code Runs Fine Virtually
Code runs only when all of required things are fine. We can say McFACT cannot
be bypassed and needs valid emulation for the working crack. Anyway, sometime
developers does not use McFACT or use it inefficiently that can be byppased
or cracked. Those weak protected software runs fine through our inferiror emu
called "Kawa-eLicenser"
WHY DOES THIS XILS RELEASE WORK?:
For those iLok-XILS products, McFACT is initialized by the value which is
decrypted from EDEN powered content. It means McFACT virtual code will be run
as expected when EDEN content is properly decrypted. The serial number based
XILS products (SERIAL+McFACT) uses 5 WORD value for McFACT. It is a bit
different from iLok protected one.
I SAW THE CRACK OF CUBASE, DOES THIS REALLY WORK?:
The trick is here,
ProductA : (EncCodeOfA) * (ProductKeyOfA) * (ValidTrialLicenseOfA)
| | |
COPIED COPIED COPIED
| | |
ProductB : (EncCodeOfA) * (ProductKeyOfA) * (ValidTrialLicenseOfA)
In this way, you can run the ProductA's code on ProductB. This works if A & B
fucntions are completely identical - which rarely happens. Think you are very
lucky if it works. Anyway, in fact, no further attacks can be done in this
way. There are no chance to enable Vienna, Nexus, Vengeance or full version
of Steinberg top notch products.
Always remember that there are no way to bypass the cryptograhic protection.
Sometime, even legit license is required. Uploading non cracked version
does not always help crackers. This isn't a problem only happens to iLok or
eLic, but some other software does have the same problem as we exactly said
in the SIR2 release few days ago. Some of the "long waited" softwares are
never released because of this. Crackers are not wizards or witches
Did you think we would release bigger software? Well, these XILS aren't small
ones when it comes to the cracking world.
NONE of iLok protected XILS software has ever been cracked properly. XILS dev
called Xavier Oudin does some nice combination of EDEN (PACE Crypto) and
McFACT (eLicenser Crypto). Without the fine decryption, some virtual code
will not be run by McFACT correctly. It makes small or big (crash!) glitches
because of this.
We decrypted all required content to run McFACT correctly, which is always
done by FusionSDK+iLok, then we bypassed the access to iLok not used anymore.
This makes working the software identical to the legit licensed software.
During the test we found some bugs in some software. Anyway, we also
confirmed that those bugs also happen with legit dongle licensed ones too.
Not related to the cracking.
Have nice holidays!
