fidzu : pda

Posted by Megan Ruthven Android Security, Ken Bodzak Threat Analysis Group, Neel Mehta Threat Analysis Group

Android Security is always developing new ways of using data to find and block potentially harmful apps (PHAs) from getting onto your devices. Earlier this year, we announced we had blocked Chrysaor targeted spyware, believed to be written by NSO Group, a cyber arms company. In the course of our Chrysaor investigation, we used similar techniques to discover a new and unrelated family of spyware called Lipizzan. Lipizzan's code contains references to a cyber arms company, Equus Technologies.

Lipizzan is a multi-stage spyware product capable of monitoring and exfiltrating a user's email, SMS messages, location, voice calls, and media. We have found 20 Lipizzan apps distributed in a targeted fashion to fewer than 100 devices in total and have blocked the developers and apps from the Android ecosystem. Google Play Protect has notified all affected devices and removed the Lipizzan apps.

We've enhanced Google Play Protect's capabilities to detect the targeted spyware used here and will continue to use this framework to block more targeted spyware. To learn more about the methods Google uses to find targeted mobile spyware like Chrysaor and Lipizzan, attend our BlackHat talk, Fighting Targeted Malware in the Mobile Ecosystem.

How does Lipizzan work?

Getting on a target device

Lipizzan was a sophisticated two stage spyware tool. The first stage found by Google Play Protect was distributed through several channels, including Google Play, and typically impersonated an innocuous-sounding app such as a "Backup" or "Cleaner" app. Upon installation, Lipizzan would download and load a second "license verification" stage, which would survey the infected device and validate certain abort criteria. If given the all-clear, the second stage would then root the device with known exploits and begin to exfiltrate device data to a Command & Control server.

Once implanted on a target device

The Lipizzan second stage was capable of performing and exfiltrating the results of the following tasks:

• Call recording
• VOIP recording
• Recording from the device microphone
• Location monitoring
• Taking screenshots
• Taking photos with the device camera(s)
• Fetching device information and files
• Fetching user information (contacts, call logs, SMS, application-specific data)

The PHA had specific routines to retrieve data from each of the following apps:

We saw all of this behavior on a standalone stage 2 app, com.android.mediaserver (not related to Android MediaServer). This app shared a signing certificate with one of the stage 1 applications, com.app.instantbackup, indicating the same author wrote the two. We could use the following code snippet from the 2nd stage (com.android.mediaserver) to draw ties to the stage 1 applications.

public void uninstallParent() { 
    android.util.Log.d("ApplicationsManager", "Removing parent application!");
    com.android.mediaserver.shell.Shell$SU.run(new StringBuilder().append("").append("echo u:r:system_server:s0 > /proc/$$/attr/current; pm uninstall").append("com.app.instantbackup").toString());
    com.android.mediaserver.shell.Shell$SU.run(new StringBuilder().append("").append("rm -rf /data/data/").append("com.app.instantbackup").toString());
    com.android.mediaserver.shell.Shell$SU.run(new StringBuilder().append("").append("rm -Rf /data/data/").append("com.app.instantbackup").toString());
    return;
}

Morphing first stage

After we blocked the first set of apps on Google Play, new apps were uploaded with a similar format but had a couple of differences.

• The apps changed from 'backup' apps to looking like a "cleaner", "notepad", "sound recorder", and "alarm manager" app. The new apps were uploaded within a week of the takedown, showing that the authors have a method of easily changing the branding of the implant apps.
• The app changed from downloading an unencrypted stage 2 to including stage 2 as an encrypted blob. The new stage 1 would only decrypt and load the 2nd stage if it received an intent with an AES key and IV.

Despite changing the type of app and the method to download stage 2, we were able to catch the new implant apps soon after upload.

How many devices were affected?

There were fewer than 100 devices that checked into Google Play Protect with the apps listed below. That means the family affected only 0.000007% of Android devices. Since we identified Lipizzan, Google Play Protect removed Lipizzan from affected devices and actively blocks installs on new devices.

What can you do to protect yourself?

• Ensure you are opted into Google Play Protect.
• Exclusively use the Google Play store. The chance you will install a PHA is much lower on Google Play than using other install mechanisms.
• Keep "unknown sources" disabled while not using it.
• Keep your phone patched to the latest Android security update.

List of samples

1st stage

Older version

Newer version

Standalone 2nd stage

26 Jul 2017 8:00pm GMT

Posted by Michael Amygdalidis, Stephan Linzner and Nick Korostelev from the Mobile-Ninjas team at Google

We're pleased to announce the version 1.0 release of the Android Testing Support Library (ATSL).

ATSL version 1.0 is a major update to our existing testing APIs and comes with lots of new features, improved performance, stability, and bug fixes. It provides full API parity with the now deprecated Android platform testing APIs. This release also adds a number of features that we discussed in our Google I/O 2017 talk, such as native support for Multiprocess Espresso and the Android Test Orchestrator.

We are also happy to announce that, starting with version 1.0, we're distributing releases on Google's Maven repository, which makes it a lot easier to use ATSL in your builds. To learn more about using this repository, see the getting started with the Google Maven repository guide. Note that we're no longer tying future updates to the testing infrastructure with platform updates. If you have not yet upgraded your tests to ATSL, this is an excellent time.

Finally, we want to announce a big update to our Android testing documentation. We've migrated our old testing documentation from our GitHub website to developers.android.com/testing. All the testing documentation now appears in a single place, making it even easier to learn how to write and execute tests on Android.

Let's move on to the fun part of this post, an overview of new APIs and tools that we're providing in this release.

Espresso Improvements

Espresso 3.0.0 comes with amazing new features and improved overall performance. Some of the highlights include: Multiprocess Espresso, Idling Registry and new Idling Resources. Let's dive in and have a more detailed look at these new features:

Multiprocess Espresso

Starting with Android O, the platform includes support for instrumenting tests outside of your app's default process. (Prior to Android O, you could only test against app components in your app's default process.) Multiprocess Espresso makes this support possible. It allows you to seamlessly test your app's UI interactions that cross process boundaries while still maintaining Espresso's synchronization guarantees.

The good news is that Espresso does all the work; you don't have to change anything for setups with UI in multiple processes. You can keep writing your Espresso tests like you would for single process apps, and Espresso automatically handles the process IPC and synchronization between processes.

The following diagram shows how multiple instances of Espresso communicate with each other:

If you want to learn more about Multiprocess Espresso and how to use it, please take a look at our documentation and our Multiprocess sample.

Idling Registry

Some apps use build flavors in Gradle or a dependency injection framework, like Dagger, to generate test build configurations that register idling resources. Others simply expose the idling resource through their activities. The problem with all these approaches is that they add complexity to your development workflow, and some of them even break encapsulation. With the latest release of Espresso, we've made it easier to register idling resources from within your app code by introducing the new IdlingRegistry API. IdlingRegistry is a lightweight registry that doesn't bring in the entire Espresso library, so you can more easily register resources from your application code. When combining this API with Multiprocess Espresso, you can register idling resources from any process within your application code.

Registration from the Espresso class is now deprecated.

Idling Resources

Writing custom idling resources can be time consuming, so Espresso 3.0.0 now comes with more idling resources out of the box to synchronize your threads. The new resources include: IdlingThreadPoolExecutor and IdlingScheduledThreadPoolExecutor. There will be more to come!

To take advantage of the new idling resource, add these new dependencies to your build.gradle file:

  androidTestCompile "com.android.support.test.espresso.idling:idling-concurrent:3.0.0"

Additionally, CountingIdlingResource, which was previously deprecated in Espresso contrib, has been removed with this release. Therefore, you need to update your tests to use the new CountingIdlingResource package that's located in Espresso idling resource. For the full migration details, refer to our release notes.

ProviderTestRule

When you test ContentProvider objects, you can now use ProviderTestRule instead of ProviderTestCase2. ProviderTestRule offers an easier way to work with other test rules currently available for AndroidJUnit4.

ProviderTestRule includes APIs for initialization, as well as commands to run against a ContentProvider under test. If your ContentProvider is based off of a SQLite database, you can use the ProviderTestRule commands for setting the database file and initialization commands.

To learn more, see the ProviderTestRule documentation.

Grant Permission Rule

Android M (API level 23) allows apps to request permissions at runtime. However, the dialogs that request runtime permissions place tests in a state where they cannot continue, causing them to fail. By using GrantPermissionRule, you can skip the dialog popups altogether and simulate a user granting a runtime permission for your app.

Android Test Orchestrator

Typically, AndroidJUnitRunner runs all tests in the same instrumentation process, which can cause a number of problems. For example, tests share their state in memory, and if one test crashes, it prevents the remainder of the test suite from running.

Although it's possible to isolate tests by issuing sequential adb commands, this process adds host-side processing load. By using the new Android Test Orchestrator instead, you can achieve test isolation entirely on the device, as shown in this diagram:

Be aware that if your tests require shared state to pass, the orchestrator causes them to fail. This behavior is by design. As of this post, Android Test Orchestrator is in beta and is available for use via the command line. We have integrations planned for Firebase Test Lab and Android Studio, coming soon.

For more information, see the Android Testing Orchestrator developer guide.

AndroidJUnitRunner

AndroidJUnitRunner now includes a number of additional features:

• You can use JUnitParams.
• You can configure class loaders and custom JUnit test filters using the runner arguments

Sometimes you want to test an activity that you create and configure on the fly as part of your test workflow. Now, you can configure MonitoringInstrumentation (and by extension, AndroidJUnitRunner) using an InterceptingActivityFactory. You can create your activity under test with a test-specific configuration without having to rely on compile-time injection.

This overview highlights only some of the most significant changes that we've made to ATSL. They are many more changes that are worth exploring. For the full release details, refer to our release notes.

Last but not least, we want to thank all the developers who contributed features to this release. We also want to thank the Android testing experts on the mobile engineering teams at American Express, Slack and GDE Chiu-Ki Chan for collaborating with us and providing valuable feedback on the pre-release version of Android Testing Support Library.

Happy testing from the ATSL team!

25 Jul 2017 7:21pm GMT

Posted by Dave Burke, VP of Engineering

As we put the finishing touches on the Android O platform, today we're rolling out Developer Preview 4 to help you make sure your apps are ready.

This is the final preview before we launch the official Android O platform to consumers later this summer. Take this opportunity to wrap up your testing and publish your updates soon, to give users a smooth transition to Android O.

If you have a device that's enrolled in the Android Beta Program, you'll receive an update to Developer Preview 4 in the next few days. If you haven't enrolled your device yet, just visit the Android Beta site to enroll and get the update.

Watch for more information on the official Android O release soon!

What's in this update?

Developer Preview 4 is a release candidate build of Android O that you can use to complete your development and testing in time for the upcoming official release. It includes the final system behaviors, the latest bug fixes and optimizations, and the final APIs (API level 26) already available since Developer Preview 3.

We're releasing the Developer Preview 4 device system images today, together with the stable version of the Android 26.0.0 Support Library. Incremental updates to the SDK, tools, and Android Emulator system images are on the way over the next few days.

We're also introducing a new version of Android Testing Support Library that includes new features like Android Test Orchestrator, Multiprocess Espresso, and more. Watch for details coming soon.

Test your apps on Android O

Today's Developer Preview 4 system images give you an excellent way to test your current apps on the near-final version of Android O. By testing now, you can make sure your app offers the experience you want as users start to upgrade to the official Android O platform.

Just enroll a supported device in the Android Beta Program to get today's update over-the-air, install your current app from Google Play, and test the user flows. The app should run and look great, and should handle the Android O behavior changes properly -- in particular, pay attention to background location limits, notification channels, and changes in networking, security, and identifiers.

Once you've resolved any issues, publish your app updates with the current targeting level, so that they're available as users start to receive Android O.

Enhance your apps with Android O features and APIs

Users running the latest versions of Android are typically among the most active in terms of downloading apps, consuming content, and making purchases. They're also more vocal about support for the latest Android features in their favorite apps. With Android O, users are anticipating features like notification channels and dots, shortcut pinning, picture-in-picture, autofill, and others. These features could also help increase engagement with your app as more users upgrade to Android O over time.

Enhancing your apps with Android O features can help you drive engagement with users, offer new interactions, give them more control and security, and improve performance. Features like adaptive icons, downloadable fonts, and autosizing TextView can simplify your development and minimize your APK size. Battery is also a top concern for users, so they'll appreciate your app being optimized for background execution limits and other important changes in vital system behavior for O apps.

Visit the O Developer Preview site to learn about all of the new features and APIs and how to build them into your apps.

Speed your development with Android Studio

When you're ready to build for Android O, we recommend updating to the latest version of Android Studio 3.0, available for download from the canary channel. Aside from improved app performance profiling tools, support for the Kotlin programming language, and Gradle build optimizations, Android Studio 3.0 makes it easier to develop with Instant Apps, XML Fonts, Downloadable Fonts, and Adaptive Icons.

We also recommend updating to the stable version of the Android Support Library 26.0.0, available now from Google's Maven repository, and to the latest SDK, tools, and emulator system images, available over the next few days.

You can update your project's compileSdkVersion to API 26 to compile against the official Android O APIs. We also recommend updating your app's targetSdkVersion to API 26 to opt-in and test your app with Android O specific behavior changes. See the migration guide for details on how to setup your environment to build with Android O.

Publish your updates to Google Play

Google Play is open for apps compiled against or targeting API 26. When you're ready, you can publish your APK updates in your alpha, beta, or production channels.

Make sure that your updated app runs well on Android O as well as older versions. We recommend using Google Play's beta testing feature to get early feedback from a small group of users. Then do a staged rollout. We're looking forward to seeing your app updates!

How to get Developer Preview 4

It's simple to get Developer Preview 4 if you haven't already! Just visit android.com/beta and opt-in your eligible phone or tablet. As always, you can also download and flash this update manually. The O Developer Preview is available for Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel C, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player, and the Android Emulator. Enrolled devices will automatically update when we release the official version of Android O.

Thanks for all of your input throughout the preview. Continue to share your feedback and requests, we love it!

24 Jul 2017 5:27pm GMT