CryptexFixup

Lilu Kernel extension for installing Rosetta Cryptex in macOS Ventura. Applicable for both OS installation and updates.

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With macOS Ventura, Apple finally dropped the last Mac that lacked the AVX2.0 CPU instruction, the 2013 Trash Can Mac Pro (MacPro6,1). With this, systems lacking AVX2.0 can no longer boot Ventura natively as Apple has stripped the legacy non-AVX2.0 dyld shared caches from the OS. However due to compatibility issues with Rosetta 2, Apple is forced to retain a pre-AVX2.0 dyld shared cache on Apple Silicon systems.

Thus to support older machines, this kext will force the macOS installer/updater to install the Apple Silicon Cryptex (OS.dmg) instead of the stock Intel variant. More information can be found under macOS Ventura and OpenCore Legacy Patcher Support: Issue 998. Additionally, this kext will disable Cryptex hash verification in APFS.kext.

Additional notes:

• Delta Updates will not be supported with patched Cryptexes, Full Updates will be requested instead.
  • Delta: 1-3GB~
  • Full Update: 12GB
• Rapid Security Response Updates are currently not supported at this time.
  • macOS only distributes x86_64h-based deltas on x86 machines, which are incompatible with the Rosetta Cryptex.
• If CryptexFixup determines your system already supports AVX2.0, it will not do anything (unless explicitly requested).
  • Systems supporting AVX2.0 natively:
    • Intel Haswell and newer
    • AMD Excavator/Ryzen and newer
  • Systems lacking AVX2.0:
    • Intel Ivy Bridge and older
    • AMD Bulldozer/Piledriver/Steamroller and older
• This kext does not drop the requirement for AVX2.0 in some of Ventura's Graphics Stack
  • AMD Polaris, Vega and Navi Drivers in Ventura will not function without AVX2.0 support, end users will need to find alternative ways to achieve graphics acceleration
  • Apple's Paravirtualized Graphics Stack still supports pre-AVX2.0 systems
    • ex. VMware Fusion on Monterey host lacking AVX2.0, guest VM running Ventura

Boot arguments

• -cryptoff (or -liluoff) to disable
• -cryptdbg (or -liludbgall) to enable verbose logging (in DEBUG builds)
• -cryptbeta (or -lilubetaall) to enable on macOS newer than 15
• -crypt_allow_hash_validation to disable APFS.kext patching
• -crypt_force_avx to force install the Rosetta Cryptex on AVX2.0 systems

Credits

• Apple for macOS
• vit9696 for Lilu.kext
• DhinakG for research and development
• khronokernel for research and development