MALWARES

Aditya Gupta
Facebook[dot]com/aditya1391
@adi1391
 ./whoami

• College Student

• Security Researcher

• NOT an expert

• Grey Hat
 Agenda

• Android OS Basics

• Inside the APK

• Android Security Model

• Reversing the codes

• Some case studies

• Making our own malware

• Malware = Money

• Mobile App Pentesting

 What is Android

• Software Stack including OS,

middleware and applications

• Developed by Google and

OHA(Open Handset Alliance)

• Largest Market Share, more than

Symbian and IOS.
 Why Android

• Everywhere! (TV, phones, tablets)

• Easy to expl0it + Open Source

• Runs on Linux 2.6.x kernel

• Uses SQLite database

• Huge community base

• Official market containing over 4,00,000 apps

ANDROID ARCHITECTURE
Android Applications
• .apk (Android Package)
format

• Nothing more than a zip

file.

• Written exclusively in Java,

with native libraries in
C/C++.

• Composed of components
such as Activities, Services,
Broadcast Recievers, etc.
 Android Applications

APK

META-INF res [Link] [Link] resources

 ACTIVITY
• Screen to let users interact

• Consists of views ( Buttons,

TextView, ImageView, Table
view, List view etc)

• “main” activity presented

on start

• Lifecycle is “LIFO”
ACTIVITY
• Follows the Activity
Lifecycle.

• Activity of one
application can be
accessed by other
application*.

• Permission has to be
granted
 SERVICE
• Performs the work in the background

• Doesn’t comes with a UI

• Can be either stated or bound(or both)

• Example – playing music in the bg, network

activities, file i/o operations etc.
 Other Components

• Broadcast Reciever
receives and responds to broadcast announcements
Incoming SMS , Screen Off etc.

• Intents
Binds individual components at runtime

• Content Providers
Stores and retrieves the application data
Data stored in an SQLite database
• Preinstalled on all
Android devices

• Contains over 4.5 billion

apps

• Anyone can publish

his/her app
 Permissions.. WTF?

• Declared in
[Link]

• XML file containing all

the components and
permissions

• Can only use the

declared permissions
 Permissions.. WTF?
• ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION • READ_SMS

• ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION
• RECEIVE_SMS
• BRICK
• SEND_SMS
• CALL_PHONE

• INTERNET • USE_CREDENTIALS

• GET_ACCOUNTS • WRITE_OWNER_DATA
• PROCESS_OUTGOING_CALLS
• RECORD_AUDIO
• READ_OWNER_DATA
 Android Security Model
• Each application is run within a Dalvik Virtual Machine

• With unique UID:GID

• By default no permission is granted

• Permissions required by an application have to be

approved by the user.

• Apk files must be signed with a certificate.

Android Security Model
Application 1 Application 2 Application 3

UID : 1000 UID : 1001 UID : 1003

Dalvik VM Dalvik VM Dalvik VM

Application 4 Application 5

UID : 1004 UID : 1005

Dalvik VM Dalvik VM

SYSTEM PROCESS ( UID : SYSTEM)

LINUX KERNEL
DALVIK VIRTUAL MACHINE(DVM)
 Created by Dan Bornstein

DVM vs JVM

Virtual System to run the android apps

Register based instead of stack based

Runs the dex(Dalvik Executable) files

REVERSE ENGINEERING
BREAKING THE CODES
 Making of the APK

Using dx(dexer) of Android SDK

.java .class .dex .apk

apkbuilder
 REVERSING THE APK

.java .class .dex .apk

REVERSING THE APK
Tools of the trade

Dedexer
Baksmali
Undx
JD-GUI
Dex2JAR
DexDump
APKTool
GETTING OUR HANDS DIRTY
DEMO TIME
ANDROID MALWARES
Special thanks to Mila for his awesome website
[Link]
 Memories of the Past
Some famous Android Malwares

• [Link].a
• Geinimi
• Snake
• DreamDroid
• GGTracker
[Link].a
• Simplest malware till
date.

• Sends SMS to a premium

rated number

• $6-10/sms

• Mainly distributed
through porn/media apps

• Stop watching porn? :O

GEINIMI : THE HOTTEST MALWARE
 GEINIMI
• Most sophisticated malware till date.

• Botnet like capabilities

• Multiple variants created on the same device

• Obfuscated code

• Strings decrypted at runtime

• All network data encrypted ( DES with a key - 012345678)

 GEINIMI
• Three ways of starting (Using service or Broadcast Receivers

• Makes a connection with C&C server

• Identifies each device with unique IMEI & IMSI

• Can be in 5 states (Start, download, parse, transact, idle)

• Info Stealer

• Infected legitimate apps ( Sex Positions, MonkeyJump2 etc. )

(Another reason for not watching porn on mobile! )
GEINIMI(continued)
• Botnet Command Capabilities :

o call – Call a number

o Email – Send a email

o Smsrecord – Sends all the sms’es to the server

o Install – install an app

o Shell – get a shell

o Contactlist - get the contact list of the victim

o Wallpaper – change the wallpaper etc.

 DREAMDROID
• Infected legitimate software

• Hosted at “Android Market”

• Came with exploits namely Exploid ( CVE-2009-1185 ) and

rageagainstthecage(CVE-2010-EASY)

• Multi Staged Payload

• XOR Encrypted data

• Another malware with Botnet capabilities

Creating our own
Android Malware
 Agenda
Taking a legitimate app (apk)

Decompile it

Insert our own codes

Repackaging to get a infected APK

PROFIT?
CREATING A MALWARE
Expected Time to be taken < 5 mins
 Vulnerable Applications
• GMail App(in <Android v2.1 vuln
to XSS :O
From field: “
onload=[Link]=‘http://
[Link]’ “@[Link]”
(Found by supernothing of
[Link])

• Use this to launch more exploits

such as the Data Stealing Bug or
Free Webkit Exploit

• Steal Emails & SD Card Files

 Stored Passwords
• Browser passwords stored in database called
[Link]
• Got r00t?

#adb pull /data/data/[Link]/databases/[Link]

#sqlite [Link]
> SELECT * FROM password;
 Insecure Data Storage
# cd /data/data/[Link]
# ls
cache
databases
shared_prefs
lib
# cd shared_prefs
# ls
com.evernote_preferences.xml
# cat com.evernote_preferences.xml
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8' standalone='yes' ?>
<map>
<string name="serviceHost"><string
name="username">myusername</string>
<boolean name="ACCOUNT_CHECKED" value="true" />
<string name="password">youcanthackme</string>
<int name="servicePort" value="0" />
<boolean name="NotifyUploadStatus" value="true" />
</map>
#
 Is that all?
Webkit and platform vulnerabilities

Android 2.0 ,2.1, 2.1.1 WebKit Use-After-Free Exploit

Android 2.0/2.1 Use-After-Free Remote Code Execution on Webkit

Vulnerabilities in Apps, SQLi, XSS, etc.

Use platform vulns to get root & shell

SD card information leakage

XSSF Framework

ROOTSTRAP

Sniffing the network : )

Try MoshZuk & ANTI

 Is that all?
Get the
Android
version

Run
Profit matching
exploits

Install
Spread malicious
app
[$]Where is the money?[$]
[$$$]100% Illegal Ways to get rich! [$$$]
•Mobile App moolah by Jimmy Shah
Your phone has been hacked!
•Premium Rates SMSes Transfer $1000 to my account
Or else…….
•Make malwares for sale Acc No : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

•Click Fraud, BlackHat SEO, Traffic generation, PPC Ads

•Steal Accounts/CCs and sell them

•Get personal information and blackmail the owner

•Sign up to many services with your referral id

•Make a bank phishing app

 [$$]Spread Yourself![$$]
• Forums

• P2P

• Send SMS’es/chat with your download link from the infected user’s phone

• Make a blog of cracked full version of famous android apps!

• Social Network viral scripts

• Android Market

• Amazon App Store

Outlaws vs Angels
 The game is over!
• Malware scanners developed for
this platform.

• Lookout(one of the best security

solutions), AVG, Quick Heal,
Kaspersky have come up with
their security solutions.

• Can detect most of the malwares

of this platform.
 The game is over!
The game is not over yet!
• Can create a malware not detected by the scanners

• Most of them signature based, so, can easily be bypassed.

• Obfuscating code can bypass most of them.

• Disable the AV

• Encryption for network data.

• Use your own “blackhat” creativity!

MobileApp Pentesting FTW!
 MobileApp Pentesting FTW!
• Decompile the apk after pulling it from the phone.

adb pull /data/app(or app-private)/[Link]

unzip [Link]
dex2jar [Link]
jdgui [Link]

or convert to smali and then analyse the code

adb pull /data/app/[Link]

unzip [Link]
java –jar [Link] –o C:\pentest\app [Link]

OR

apktool d [Link]
 MobileApp Pentesting FTW!
• Start Emulator with Proxy
Emulator –avd MYAVD –http-proxy [Link]

• Install the app in the emulator

avd install [Link]

• Use Wireshark, Fiddler & Burp Suite to monitor

traffic
• Run the app and check logcat
• WhisperMonitor – Android App to monitor
outgoing traffic
 MobileApp Pentesting FTW!

Check the security mechanism and encryption used in a

banking or payment app for network data

Manifest Explorer

Strace for debugging system calls and signals

Check the location where the app stores the login credentials.
THANK YOU!