Mobile Application Penetration Testing
When to Activate
- Android/iOS application security assessment, bug-bounty mobile triage, or app-store reconnaissance
- Need to intercept TLS traffic (SSL/cert pinning, Android 14/15 Conscrypt-APEX trust store, Flutter/RN stacks)
- Bypass root/jailbreak or biometric-gating controls during dynamic analysis
- Enumerate and exploit exported components, content providers, deep links, and WebViews
- Extract secrets from insecure storage (SharedPrefs, SQLite, Keychain, Keystore) and reverse hybrid apps
Technique Map
| Technique | ATT&CK | CWE | Reference | Script |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lab build + Frida 17 server/gadget | T1635 | CWE-1188 | references/environment-interception.md | - |
| Android 14/15 Conscrypt-APEX CA injection | T1521.001 | CWE-295 | references/environment-interception.md | scripts/android_ca_inject.sh |
| SSL/cert-pinning bypass (Java TM/OkHttp/native) | T1521.001 | CWE-295 | references/environment-interception.md | scripts/universal_unpin.js |
| Root detection bypass (RootBeer/native stat) | T1633.001 | CWE-693 | references/environment-interception.md | scripts/universal_unpin.js |
| Exported activity/service/receiver abuse | T1626.001 | CWE-926 | references/android-component-attacks.md | scripts/manifest_attack_surface.py |
| Content-provider SQLi / path traversal (CVE-2025-48609) | T1409 | CWE-22, CWE-89 | references/android-component-attacks.md | scripts/component_fuzz.sh |
| Task hijacking / StrandHogg / TapTrap (USENIX '25) | T1517 | CWE-1021 | references/android-component-attacks.md | scripts/manifest_attack_surface.py |
| Deep-link / intent-redirect / scheme hijack | T1635, T1577 | CWE-939 | references/webview-deeplink-exploitation.md | scripts/component_fuzz.sh |
| WebView JS-interface RCE + file:// theft | T1577 | CWE-749 | references/webview-deeplink-exploitation.md | scripts/component_fuzz.sh |
| OAuth custom-scheme callback interception | T1635 | CWE-940 | references/webview-deeplink-exploitation.md | - |
| Insecure storage (SharedPrefs/SQLite/external) | T1409 | CWE-312 | references/insecure-storage-crypto.md | scripts/manifest_attack_surface.py |
| Keystore/Keychain misuse + dumping | T1634 | CWE-522 | references/insecure-storage-crypto.md | scripts/ios_bypass_suite.js |
| Biometric bypass (BiometricPrompt/LAContext) | T1634 | CWE-287 | references/insecure-storage-crypto.md | scripts/ios_bypass_suite.js |
| iOS jailbreak + JB-detection bypass | T1635 | CWE-693 | references/ios-offensive.md | scripts/ios_bypass_suite.js |
| IPA decrypt / class-dump / URL-scheme abuse | T1409, T1635 | CWE-200 | references/ios-offensive.md | scripts/ios_bypass_suite.js |
| Flutter RE / reFlutter pinning bypass | T1521.001 | CWE-295 | references/crossplatform-re-instrumentation.md | scripts/hermes_triage.py |
| React Native Hermes bytecode decompile | T1640 | CWE-656 | references/crossplatform-re-instrumentation.md | scripts/hermes_triage.py |
Quick Start
bash# ---- ANDROID ---- # 0. Pull + statically triage the APK (manifest, secrets, exported surface, framework ID) adb shell pm path com.target.app # locate split APKs adb pull /data/app/.../base.apk . python3 scripts/manifest_attack_surface.py base.apk -o surface.json jadx -d src base.apk & apktool d base.apk -o decoded # 1. Frida 17: match server to host tools; push + run frida --version # e.g. 17.x -> use matching server adb push frida-server-17.x-android-arm64 /data/local/tmp/frida-server adb shell "su -c 'chmod 755 /data/local/tmp/frida-server && /data/local/tmp/frida-server &'" # 2. Trust Burp CA on Android 14/15 (APEX is immutable -> Zygote namespace bind-mount) bash scripts/android_ca_inject.sh 9a5ba575.0 cacert.pem # see reference for cert hashing # 3. Spawn target with universal unpinning + root-detection bypass frida -U -f com.target.app -l scripts/universal_unpin.js --no-pause # 4. Hit the exported attack surface from surface.json bash scripts/component_fuzz.sh com.target.app surface.json # ---- iOS ---- frida-ios-dump -o app.ipa com.target.app # decrypt + pull (jailbroken) frida -U -f com.target.app -l scripts/ios_bypass_suite.js --no-pause # JB + pinning + biometric + keychain # ---- HYBRID ---- file decoded/assets/index.android.bundle # "Hermes JavaScript bytecode" => RN python3 scripts/hermes_triage.py base.apk # detect Flutter/RN, drive reFlutter/hermes-dec
OPSEC & Detection (summary)
| Technique | Telemetry / IOC | Detection (Sigma / app-side) | OPSEC note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frida instrumentation | frida-server/gadget ports (27042), re.frida.server, suspicious maps regions, named pipes linjector | App scans /proc/self/maps for frida, checks D-Bus port, thread gum-js-loop; Play Integrity | Use frida-gadget renamed lib, custom port frida-server -l 0.0.0.0:1337, magisk-hide / Shamiko |
| CA injection (APEX) | New trust anchor in process trust store; cert CN mismatch on pinned hosts | Network Security Config <trust-anchors> excludes user store; pinning catches it | Mount lives only in Zygote ns, vanishes on Zygote crash — re-inject; nothing written to /system |
| SSL-pinning bypass | TLS handshake to proxy IP; cert chain not app-pinned cert | App-side pin failure callbacks fire (if logged); telemetry SDK sees proxy cert | Hook before first request; for Flutter prefer reFlutter patch over runtime to avoid crash loops |
| Root/JB bypass | getprop ro.debuggable, su binaries, magisk paths queried | RootBeer/iXGuard SDK reports; SafetyNet/Play Integrity attestation server-side | Bypass client checks only; server-side attestation (Play Integrity / DeviceCheck) is unaffected |
| Exported component abuse | am start/startservice/broadcast from adb; foreign UID intent | App logs unexpected caller UID; Binder.getCallingUid() checks | Use on-device malicious app for realism; adb leaves shell history |
| Content-provider traversal | content query with ../; openFile on out-of-dir path | FileProvider canonical-path check; CVE-2025-48609 patched Mar 2026 SPL | URL-encode ..%2f to dodge naive filters; read-only first |
| TapTrap / task hijack | Transparent activity transition, taskAffinity overlap, animationScale abuse | TapTrap fixed Dec 2025 SPL; check targetSdk, taskAffinity="" | Zero-permission; works <Dec-2025 patch; user study: 100% missed at least one variant |
| Keychain/Keystore dump | keychain_dumper, frida memory scrape, SecItemCopyMatching hooks | Keychain items with .biometryCurrentSet resist hooking; SE-backed keys unextractable | JB device dumps keychain plaintext regardless of ACL; flag SE vs SW keys in report |
| Biometric bypass | LAContext evaluatePolicy / BiometricPrompt callback hook | Only works on boolean-result pattern, NOT SecAccessControl-gated crypto | Report root cause: auth result not bound to a crypto/keychain operation |
Deep Dives
- references/environment-interception.md — Rooted/jailbroken lab, Genymotion/AVD, Magisk+Shamiko, Frida 17 breaking changes (bridge removal, frida-pm, frida-compile), gadget mode for non-root, Android 14/15 Conscrypt-APEX CA injection via Zygote namespace bind-mount, universal SSL-pinning bypass (Java TrustManager/OkHttp/Network Security Config/native BoringSSL), root-detection bypass.
- references/android-component-attacks.md — Manifest attack-surface enumeration, exported activity/service/broadcast/provider exploitation, content-provider SQLi & path traversal (CVE-2025-48609 MmsProvider),
intent://redirection to non-exported components, task hijacking (StrandHogg 1.0/2.0 CVE-2020-0096) and TapTrap animation-driven tapjacking (USENIX Security '25), drozer + adb workflows. - references/webview-deeplink-exploitation.md —
addJavascriptInterfaceRCE,setAllowUniversalAccessFromFileURLs/file://local-file theft, deep-link → WebView open-redirect/XSS chains,intent://browsable-activity pivots, OAuth custom-scheme callback hijack (RFC 8252), iOS URL-scheme & Universal Link abuse, one-click browser-to-WebView exploitation. - references/insecure-storage-crypto.md — Android SharedPreferences/SQLite/internal+external storage, Android Keystore misuse (non-hardware-backed keys, no
setUserAuthenticationRequired), iOS Keychain ACLs &keychain_dumper, NSUserDefaults/plist leaks, biometric bypass (BiometricPrompt CryptoObject vs result-only, LAContextevaluatePolicy), hardcoded secrets & Firebase/S3 misconfig, MASVS-STORAGE mapping. - references/ios-offensive.md — Jailbreak tooling matrix (palera1n checkm8 A8–A11/T2 iOS 15–18.x, Dopamine A8–A16 iOS 15–16.6.1, Dopamine HideJailbreak), JB-detection bypass (Frida stat/fopen/dlopen hooks + Shadow), IPA decryption (frida-ios-dump/bagbak), class-dump/Swift demangling, entitlements & URL-scheme analysis, Frida-version pinning gotchas.
- references/crossplatform-re-instrumentation.md — Flutter Dart-stack interception (reFlutter
libflutter.sopatch ofssl_crypto_x509_session_verify_cert_chain, iptables/proxydroid fallback), React Native Hermes bytecode RE (hermes-dec, hbctool patch/reassemble, hermes-decomp,CatalystInstanceImpl.loadScriptFromAssetsFrida hook), native.soJNI/JNI_OnLoadanalysis in Ghidra/IDA.
