I'm building an Android app, and one of the permission I need is defined as:
android:protectionLevel="signature|system|development"
How do I get the signature protection level? Do I need to sign my application somehow?
Do I need to sign it with OEM ? (Samsung\HTC\LG)?
signature means that to be able to get access to the resource, your app have to be signed with the same certificate that the holder of the permission. If this is not your app you are trying to connect to, then you basically are out of luck. If that's system one then you are out of luck even more, This is documented here:
"signature"
A permission that the system grants only if the
requesting application is signed with the same certificate as the
application that declared the permission. If the certificates match,
the system automatically grants the permission without notifying the
user or asking for the user's explicit approval.
EDIT
Im trying to read logcat file through my application. this requires
the permission android.permission.READ_LOGS
You cannot access logs on stock ROM that are not created by your application. That's introduced for security reasons, so would not make sense to let you get it just because you need it. If you build own ROM, then you can have it, but then you should know this already.
Related
I'm trying to use a custom permission created by another application (Bazaar) in my app (It's a permission to use a market com.farsitel.bazaar.permission.PAY_THROUGH_BAZAAR). Normally it works right.
But if Bazaar is installed after my application. My app won't get the custom permissions (Which are created by Bazaar) and throws exception. I want to know If anybody else has faced a similar problem and what solutions do you have to it?
This is a desired behaviour.
In the textbook, Android Security Internals: An In-Depth Guide to Android's Security Architecture by Nikolay Elenkov(2014) said:
The system can only grant a permission that it knows about, which
means that applications that define custom permissions need to be
installed before the applications that make use of those permissions
are installed. If an application requests a permission unknown to the
system, it is ignored and not granted.
BTW, permissions are assigned to each application at the install time by PackageManager, it maintains some information of installed packages, such as package name, version and permissions, these info are stored in /data/system/packages.xml. If you want to query all permissions on device, you can try pm list permissions.
Following the manifestation file https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/master/core/res/AndroidManifest.xml, we have some protection levels of permissions, such as
signature|system|development, signature|system, system|signature, signature|development|appop, signature|privileged, signature|installer, signature. I know that the permissions with ".|system|." are used only for the system/manufacturer applications. But for "signature", "signature|development|appop" levels, I wonder whether a third-party application can get the certificate to use them? Because I saw that Facebook has the permission "Battery_stats" in its list of permissions. I tried to find the information to confirm this question, but found no clear confirmation.
I got the below explanation from Android documentation, about the new permission model in Android M Preview. Please explain the texts in bold in simple words because I am confused.
If the app requests permissions in the manifest that fall under PROTECTION_SIGNATURE, and the app is signed with the same certificate as the app that declared those permissions, the system grants the requesting app those permissions on installation. Apps cannot request signature permissions at runtime.
Apps can define their own permissions via the manifest. This is referring to those permissions. So if I publish 2 apps, both signed with the same certificate, and app#1 defines a new permission with signature level protection and app#2 uses that permission (by stating so in its manifest) then the system will automatically grant the permission to app#2. Note that this is not new to Android Marshmallow. Only the selective grant/revoke is.
This article will help to explain permissions in general under Android: http://hiqes.com/android-security-part-2
Let me guess.
there are two apps, A and B, they was signed with the same certificate.
first at all, user start using A app, and request permissions EXAMPLE_PERMISSION under PROTECTION_SIGNATURE, then system gives a dialog and tips user that he need to grant it. user click GRANT.
And then, user launch B app, B app wants the same permission, the EXAMPLE_PERMISSION, and when it requests the permission, system auto grant that.
Because of A app has granted it, and A and B have the same certificate.
I guess so.
I have few doubts.
Is it possible for Android application after installation, to ask user for permission for accessing certain functions? Like say the app A wants to read contacts for a specific purpose. If the user grants permission, then the activity will take place. Else it wont. Is it possible?
Is there a way of allowing user to select/de-select permissions during installation time?
I have read that using CyanogenMod grants user these kind of priveleges. Is there any solution for non-rooted user, apart from take-it-or-leave-it approach?
It would be great, but not, all permission must be granted during installation :-(
Only exception is access to the google profile, this will be authorized during first access.
I hope that a future android version will can do that.
Cyanogen can do opposite. You must grant all permissions during install, but you can explicitly remove them later. But it result in application crash very often. This is only for advanced users.
I am new to Android and have a question regarding protection level "Signature" for permissions in AndroidManifest.xml.
The Android reference document states about "Signature" protection level:
A permission that the system grants only if the requesting application
is signed with the same certificate as the application that declared
the permission. If the certificates match, the system automatically
grants the permission without notifying the user or asking for the
user's explicit approval.
This implies that permissions which have protection level "Signature" are not available to use by normal application and can only be used Android Dev Team.
What I am wondering about is that how many applications in Android Market or on other sites can have these permissions? Like an application which is used for recording calls has android.permission.DEVICE_POWER in addition to other permissions. Is Android system really granting this permission to this application while installation?
When I tried to use the permission "READ_INPUT_STATE" (new in 2.2) I got the following error in LogCat:
06-28 09:28:34.943: WARN/PackageManager(60): Not granting permission android.permission.READ_INPUT_STATE to package com.example.wheredoyoulive (protectionLevel=2 flags=0x8444)
The same is true for permissions with Protection Level "SignatureOrSystem". There exists a caller application which has CALL_PRIVILEGED permission in addition to other permissions.
Please help me and clear my doubts.
Regards
Abhishek
I believe the purpose of the "Signature" permission level is for two applications by the same developer to be able to share data seamlessly without bothering the user. The READ_INPUT_STATE permission is not intended to be used in applications:
Allows an application to retrieve the current state of keys and switches. This is only for use by the system.
See http://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.permission.html#READ_INPUT_STATE
Facebook home uses this,
once you install it you'll notice that it doesn't request ANY permissions, but explicitly requires that the facebook app be installed, this is so that the system can grant it the necessary permissions by proxy of the Facebook app.
Typically what happens is the Facebook app with advertise facilities for other apps to read your status and news feed, normally these apps would need to explicitly request permission to use them if they are signed under a different certificate or rather private key.