Upgrade to Pro
— share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …
Speaker Deck
Features
Speaker Deck
PRO
Sign in
Sign up for free
Search
Search
[mDevCamp 2020] Reversing Android Apps
Search
Marc Obrador
June 11, 2020
Programming
3
2.8k
[mDevCamp 2020] Reversing Android Apps
Marc Obrador
June 11, 2020
Tweet
Share
More Decks by Marc Obrador
See All by Marc Obrador
[Droidcon London 2023] REST in Peace: A Journey Through API Protection
marcobrador
0
110
[Droidcon Berlin 2023] Obfuscation in Mobile Apps
marcobrador
0
1.3k
[WeAreDevelopers World Conference] Reversing Android Apps
marcobrador
0
680
Introduction to Mobile App Security
marcobrador
2
390
[ICE71 CyberSecurity Networking Night] Mobile App Security: A developer's introduction
marcobrador
0
790
[GDG BCN 2019] Introduction to Android App Security
marcobrador
1
910
[DroidCon Lisbon 2019] Intro to Android App Security
marcobrador
2
480
Other Decks in Programming
See All in Programming
モデル駆動設計をやってみようワークショップ開催報告(Modeling Forum2025) / model driven design workshop report
haru860
0
290
マスタデータ問題、マイクロサービスでどう解くか
kts
0
160
実はマルチモーダルだった。ブラウザの組み込みAI🧠でWebの未来を感じてみよう #jsfes #gemini
n0bisuke2
3
1.3k
AIエージェントの設計で注意するべきポイント6選
har1101
6
2.7k
Giselleで作るAI QAアシスタント 〜 Pull Requestレビューに継続的QAを
codenote
0
320
ELYZA_Findy AI Engineering Summit登壇資料_AIコーディング時代に「ちゃんと」やること_toB LLMプロダクト開発舞台裏_20251216
elyza
2
730
Deno Tunnel を使ってみた話
kamekyame
0
270
AI時代を生き抜く 新卒エンジニアの生きる道
coconala_engineer
1
470
PostgreSQLで手軽にDuckDBを使う!DuckDB&pg_duckdb入門/osc25hi-duckdb
takahashiikki
0
210
Findy AI+の開発、運用におけるMCP活用事例
starfish719
0
1.8k
Tinkerbellから学ぶ、Podで DHCPをリッスンする手法
tomokon
0
150
ローカルLLMを⽤いてコード補完を⾏う VSCode拡張機能を作ってみた
nearme_tech
PRO
0
200
Featured
See All Featured
sira's awesome portfolio website redesign presentation
elsirapls
0
94
We Are The Robots
honzajavorek
0
130
Reflections from 52 weeks, 52 projects
jeffersonlam
355
21k
Distributed Sagas: A Protocol for Coordinating Microservices
caitiem20
333
22k
Optimizing for Happiness
mojombo
379
70k
The Hidden Cost of Media on the Web [PixelPalooza 2025]
tammyeverts
2
130
The Art of Programming - Codeland 2020
erikaheidi
56
14k
Breaking role norms: Why Content Design is so much more than writing copy - Taylor Woolridge
uxyall
0
120
Unsuck your backbone
ammeep
671
58k
Building an army of robots
kneath
306
46k
Refactoring Trust on Your Teams (GOTO; Chicago 2020)
rmw
35
3.3k
Helping Users Find Their Own Way: Creating Modern Search Experiences
danielanewman
31
3k
Transcript
Reversing Android Apps
Marc Obrador Lead Architect @ Build38 Barcelona
[email protected]
@marcobrador /in/marc-obrador
None
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_engineering It’s illegal (in the EU)!
None
Josep Bernad iOS Albert Sunyer UI
Artà is in Mallorca ABF takes place (usually) in June
COVID-19 pushed it to … ?
None
Get to know the app Step 0
Get to know the app
Get to know the app
Get to know the app
Get to know the app
Static Analysis Step 1
Static Analysis
Getting the APK
Decompiling the app https://ibotpeaches.github.io/Apktool/ $ brew install apktool
Decompiling the app
None
None
None
None
None
Let’s keep looking around
Wait… “discount codes”?
App users get a discount for events
None
Let’s take a closer look…
None
HTTP Basic Authorisation = Base64(“username:password”)
None
HTTP Basic Authorisation = Base64(“username:password”) username = “string1” xor “string2”
pasword = “string3” xor “string2”
None
Protecting against static analysis ProGuard is a good start… for
regular apps • It’s just method renaming and code shrinking • Tools for reversing ProGuard exist: http://apk-deguard.com/ Other (paid) alternatives exist for obfuscation Writing sensitve code in native (NDK) is a good idea
Dynamic Analysis Step 2
Dynamic Analysis
Dynamic Analysis
Network Sniffing a.k.a MITM
Network Sniffing https://www.charlesproxy.com/
Setting Up Charles Proxy
Setting Up Charles Proxy
Setting Up Charles Proxy
First attempt…
First attempt…
Setting Up Charles Proxy
Setting Up Charles Proxy
Let’s try again…
None
None
None
None
None
• Implement Root/Debugger/Emulator/Hooking Framework detection • Use certificate pinning •
Try to detect app tampering Protecting against dynamic analysis
Using Certificate Pinning Source: https://developer.android.com/training/articles/security-config
Tampering with the App Step 3
Assuming the app implemented Certificate Pinning…
$ adb install “Downloads/Artà Beer Festival_v1.2.5_apkpure.com.apk” Performing Streamed Install Success
$ adb shell am start com.marcobrador.android.artabeerfestival/.SplashActivity Starting: Intent { act=android.intent.action.MAIN cat=[android.intent.category .LAUNCHER] cmp=com.marcobrador.android.artabeerfestival/.SplashActivity }
Let’s try to remove it
None
None
None
Time to give it a try!
None
None
Preventing Repackaging
Looks like we are done here Looks like we are
done here
This code can be removed, too!
Closing Thoughts
None
None
None
Thank you!