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AndrewRathbun committed Aug 16, 2022
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C> By [s3raph](https://github.com/s3raph-x00/) | [Website](https://www.s3raph.com/) | [Discord](http://discordapp.com/users/598660199062044687)

## Overview:
## Overview

This chapter provides a cursory overview of Android application analysis through automated and manual methods followed by a methodology of adjusting to scale.

## Introduction:
## Introduction

Mobile forensics, specifically as it pertains to Android devices, tends to focus a little more heavily on application analysis during the initial evaluation. Unlike Windows systems, the sandbox nature of the devices (assuming they aren’t and/or can’t be easily rooted), makes it a little more difficult gain a deeper forensic image without first compromising an existing application (such as malicious webpages targeting exploits in Chrome or through hijacking an insecure update process in a given application), utilizing a debugging or built in adminsitrative function, or through installing an application with greater permissions (both methods would still require privilege escalation to root). A typical stock Android phone typically has at least between 60-100+ applications installed at a given time while recent phones have more than 100+. This includes system applications maintained by Google, device/manufacturer applications such as with Huawei or Samsung, and network provider applications such as with Sprint, Vodafone, or Verizon. Additionally, device manufacturers and network provides typically have agreements with various companies, such as Facebook, to preinstall their application during device provisioning. Most of these applications cannot be easily pulled during forensic analysis without utilizing some method of physical extraction (i.e., use of Qualcomm Debugger functionality) or root access.

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I would recommend enabling searching within comments as sometimes additional functionality using external APIs and websites are simply commented out but otherwise accessible.

## Problem of Scale:
## Problem of Scale

So far, we have covered the bare basics of using MobSF to analyze an APK as well as how to manually interrogate the same APK using JADX. In most malware mobile forensic investigations with physical access (not logical) most stock Android phones have more than 100+ APKs (including system applications, device manufacturer applications, network provider applications, and third-party applications) that could need to be analyzed. Devices in active usage could reach beyond 200+ APKs that could potentially need to be analyzed. 200+ APKs is a significant number of applications for a malware forensic analysis but the investigation could be completed using MobSF and JADX in a few weeks. The problem comes at scale by expanding the number of devices being analyzed. Now you may have 100+ devices, each with 100+ APKs that may or may not be the same version. This quickly becomes untenable which results in a need to develop or adapt mobile application analysis methodology to scale.

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This script is far from perfect or complete, but foundationally provided the basic methodology to extract specific information desired for large scale analysis. The usage of Splunk becomes useful in this context as the data contained in the text files can be ingested and parsed allowing for larger scale analysis in areas such as granular file changes in the embedded APKs, addition of URLs and IP addresses, and other anomalies. This writeup does not go into extensive detail into every specific use case but hopefully given enough time, effort, and data you can scale the application analysis methodology to suit your needs. Regardless of the implementation, Android APIs and APKs are changing frequently so ensure to retest solutions and manually spot check results to ensure it still fits the goal of the solution.

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