# System Integrity Protection System Integrity Protection is a macOS security architecture that restricts modification of protected system locations and processes, including restrictions that apply even to the root user. ## Authority model SIP does not mean that protected files can never change. Apple-authorized installation, update, recovery, and migration components may carry private entitlements permitting narrowly defined protected operations. Security therefore depends on those privileged deputies validating the lower-trust images, scripts, paths, environment, and arguments they consume. Historical [[InstallESD.dmg]] research and [[CVE-2023-32369|Migraine]] demonstrated two ways an entitled transition could be redirected: image substitution before an upgrade reboot and interpreter-state injection beneath an inheritable entitlement. ## Evidentiary boundary A SIP bypass establishes protected-filesystem authority, not automatically kernel or firmware control. The resulting artifacts, execution context, and persistence layer must be identified separately. ## Relationships [[Signed System Volume]] · [[PackageKit]] · [[Migration Assistant]] · [[Foundational Persistence]] · [[XNU]] · [[Authorization Gap]]. ## Source [[InstallESD.dmg#Signing and entitlement boundary|InstallESD.dmg — signing and entitlement boundary]].