As a part of a research project, I'm doing method profiling work on a bunch of android applications identified as having malicious code in them. To automate the process, I've made a batch file and a java executable to decode, add the android:debuggable flag, rebuild, sign, and install the application to a test device. The next step would be launching the application.
Is there a way to do this from adb without knowing the intent, package, or activity of the application in question? I'm aware of the adb shell's 'am start' command, but this requires the package and the activity to start at the least, if I recall correctly.
Is there a way to start the application without this information? Or failing that, another method to get the package and activity and then use that in my batch file?
It would be much easier to run those on a device where adb runs as root (or the emulator), then you can attach without having to modify. If you are parsing the APKs, you might as well parse the manifest and build a list of packages, intents, etc. And of course, there is not 'launching the application' in Android -- you may start an activity or service, not necessarily the main/root activity. Especially for (suspected) malware, which may well be trying to hide its main activity behind an benign entry one.
Related
First of all, please note that this question is not same as all the "android foreground app" questions I found on SO, please read on :-)
I'm trying to write an android app for my own use, using golang, without using android-sdk or ndk (this is the KEY point). It is pretty simple, just use golang to write a http service, compile it for arm CPU and voila my app is running and can be access by simply visit http://localhost.
For the purpose of my app, I need to know the currently running foreground application, to define it precisely:
Foreground application is the application that occupies the screen, or has an "activity" what-so-ever (forgive me I'm not an android developer).
Anything that that is depended by the foreground application (e.g. services) is NOT what I am interested in.
If the phone is LOCKED/screen turned off, I want the solution to tell me there is NO foreground app.
And since I do not use anything android, just treat the phone as a LINUX machine, I want the solution to use native LINUX ways, e.g. by inspect /proc, or by calling any installed android command line tool (including sending messages via these command line tools), but NOT using any SDK/NDK way so that I have to use java or incorporate these thing into my app.
Starting from Android SDK 26 (if I remember well) Apps are executed on -one-User-per-App, so (i.e.) WhatsApp is running on UID=30 and Telegram on UID=76, so executing a ROOT command of "ps -A -o PID,USER,NAME" you can parse output and then Kill all Processes that you don't want to be executed.
36119 u30_a149 <WhatsApp_packagename>
36203 u76_a211 <Telegram_packagename>
37399 root [kworker/1:2H]
37423 u0_a329 su
38069 root sh
Without Root Permissions nothing of what you're trying to achieve is possible simply because is not possibile to denied an application to be executed or to kill it without Superuser privilege.
I am trying to execute an fopen() function on a file that is given permissions only to "shell" from a native (C++) application that is triggered from a service on my Android application. When I run the native code as a PIE from the shell, I am able to open the file for reading, but if I try from the Android application, it fails to open the file as the Android application is run in a different user space and so I am not able to open the file. My question is, is it possible to run the command as a "shell" user or a child of "shell" from the Android application. I want to be able to do this without rooting the device so su is out of question.
You can't change the user ID of your app without a rooted device. If you could, the security model wouldn't be very useful. If your app needs access to the file, you will need to grant appropriate permissions.
The other common workaround is to have a service, running as the "shell" user, whose job is to open the file and hand back a file descriptor. The tricky part is that you need a way to launch that service as the "shell" user, which brings us back to needing "su".
FWIW, the situation is the same whether you're coding in Java or C++.
I would like to be able to launch specific apps over adb, reading them from a file.
For example - say I wish to launch 'com.ebay.mobile'. I have a file that has simply 'com.ebay.mobile' as the contents, and I'd then like to use a batch file to launch the contents of that file, for instance filling the rest of the command.
Obviously, this runs into difficulty with the lack of an activity name, so additionally, would it also be possible for the app to launch without specifying this, so the default activity launches?
Thanks for your help!
You can use the following 2 commands (you need to use both) to run an app - if you don't specify an Activity, it will use the Main one defined in the AndroidManifest file.
adb install yourAPKFile.apk
adn run com.your.package
Just starting with android.
I try to create project that will send notification ( some bit for example ) to my FTP server every 3 hours.
I don't know how to create this project because each time i create new android project i must have only project with activity - and i don't need any activity - just need a service that will run when i install it on the device.
each time i create new android project i must have only project with activity
If you are using Eclipse, uncheck the "Create activity" checkbox that tells the new project wizard to create an activity.
If you are using android create project, yes, it will create an activity for you. You can delete the Java class and the manifest <activity> entry if you want.
In reality, you will wind up leaving all of it alone.
just need a service that will run when i install it on the device.
First, a service does not run just because you install it on the device. It only runs if you write code to cause it to run.
Second, while you might think "well, I will just get control at boot time and start the service then", that is possible, but it will not work on Android 3.1+ devices unless the user has run an activity first. This is to prevent "drive-by" malware.
So, I suggest that you leave the activity in there, if you want your app to work.
Moreover, unless this app is only for yourself, your users need the activity, to:
Control the behavior of the service, such as changing the "every 3 hours" setting to something they prefer
Read your license agreement
Read your documentation, including how to get support
Etc.
is there a simple way to stop a running application using ADB.
Szenario:
Working on App
Have a script which uploads, installs and starts App on change
Problem:
Currently running version gets killed (not shutdown), which make testing cleanup very hard. Option would be to "do cleanup in between", like after a certain time, but I would prefer to do it in the correct location (so like with the OS, as long as the App is still running, so need to save value, as soon as the OS tells me e.g. memory low or calls onDestroy, I want to save stuff)
Chris
I'm not aware of a way to do this. I was hoping there might be a way to send an intent to tell the app to exit using adb shell e.g.
adb shell am start -a [intent] -n [class]
However, I found that somebody asked this question on a Google forum but they haven't got an answer:
http://groups.google.com/group/android-platform/browse_thread/thread/3fd02d01c6c3b41a/56814e518503efd6