[core] Bug: showing invalid resource names in some specific APK files

[AndroidDeveloperLB]

Describe error

• full name of method or class with error

• full java stacktrace (no need to copy method fallback code (commented pseudocode))
  I used the online version, so I don't know what causes it:
  http://www.javadecompilers.com/result?currentfile=resources/AndroidManifest.xml

• IMPORTANT! attach or provide link to apk file (double check apk version)
  Attached here:
  GoogleExtServices.zip

The bug is that I get these:

    <application android:label="  ?0x7 131072" android:defaultToDeviceProtectedStorage="true" android:directBootAware="true">

        <service android:label="  ?0x7 131073" android:name="android.ext.services.notification.Assistant" android:permission="android.permission.BIND_NOTIFICATION_ASSISTANT_SERVICE" android:exported="true">

The label is invalid.

[jpstotz]

That is an interesting case. The attribute value is of type 7, but the TYPE_* constants in TypedValue.java do not define a type 7. Hence this value type is not specified in Android.

The value "131072" is the resource-ID containing the String Android Services Library.

apktool however seem to be able to decode this manifest it resolves the label as @string/app_name

[AndroidDeveloperLB]

How could it be? Is it possible to fix it?

[jpstotz]

As wer are outside of the specification we cloud only implement some code based on the sample data we have. But this code is likely to fail with a different APK as the definition of the data and how the different values relate to each other is unclear.

[jackwpa]

AFAIR types 7 and 8 are for TYPE_DYNAMIC_REFERENCE and TYPE_DYNAMIC_ATTRIBUTE, respectively. Those references can be resolved and then used as TYPE_REFERENCE and TYPE_ATTRIBUTE.

JEB renders that portion as:

<service android:exported="true" android:label="DynRef_0x00020001" android:name="android.ext.services.notification.Assistant" android:permission="android.permission.BIND_NOTIFICATION_ASSISTANT_SERVICE">

aapt2 generates a similar (unresolved) output:

E: service (line=45)
    A: http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android:label(0x01010001)=@0x00020001

[AndroidDeveloperLB]

But somehow the Android framework handles it fine.
I tested, and it returns the correct app-label of this APK: "Android Services Library"

[jpstotz]

@jackwpa Thanks for the info that sounds very good. A little research showed up that the Roboelectric project has an implementation that mentions those types. The project is under MIT license so we can use it as source for info and code.

apktool defines it here: https://github.com/iBotPeaches/Apktool/blob/3ee39c988ac82962b01aabb096a36c21d8d1f9da/brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/android/util/TypedValue.java#L57
and uses it here:
https://github.com/iBotPeaches/Apktool/blob/b4493a51bbc5582175e1f6a93a71ae7c58428818/brut.apktool/apktool-lib/src/main/java/brut/androlib/res/data/value/ResValueFactory.java#L36

[AndroidDeveloperLB]

You can also get it from ClassyShark:
https://github.com/google/android-classyshark

This is its result:

Maybe you could have a dependency to their code ? Could be better to depend on Google, no?
But... it seems quite old...

Checking here:
https://www.apkdecompilers.com/
I actually got the manifest right:

...android:label="@string/app_name">

AndroidManifest.zip

[AndroidDeveloperLB]

Why close? Was it fixed already?

[skylot]

@AndroidDeveloperLB Yes, I just merged PR #923 submitted by @jpstotz .
Now, these attributes look right: <application android:label="@string/app_name"
Please check latest unstable build.

[AndroidDeveloperLB]

Sadly I still don't know how to use it on Android.
Once I figure out, I could make a nice sample that will check all APK files on the device. This APK I've found by trying to check how well JADX handles APK files that another library that I tried - had some issues with (here) .

Can you please help me on this? I need to know the dependency that I will have to put into gradle file, and then I need to know how, given an InputStream, of the APK file (or the manifest if you wish), to get the result information: package-name, version-code, version-name, app-label, app-icon...