Dissecting APKs from Google Play: Trends, Insights and Security Implications
Researchers generally look for specific files within Android application packages (APKs) during their analysis, focusing on common files such as Dalvik bytecode or the Android manifest. However, Android apps are complex archive files containing various types of files. Failing to account for all files during analyses can compromise end-user security, and despite the wealth of existing techniques to analyze Android apps, only a few studies explore the diversity of files within apps. To bridge this gap, we propose the first large-scale empirical study that dissects the content of Android apps from Google Play. In our study, we explore the different file types and their usage trends. We enhance our analysis by exploring compressed files and the files they contain. We finally investigate to which extent developers use disguised files, i.e., files whose extension is conventionally associated with a file type different than its own (e.g., a Dalvik dex file with the extension “.png”), and study if they are a hint of maliciousness. Our results show that: ❶ Android apps comprise diverse file types, with over 15 000 distinct file extensions and more than 1000 unique file types found in our dataset containing over 400 000 APKs; and ❷ we found many cases where developers use a wrong relation between the file type and its extension to load malicious code at runtime.
Fri 7 MarDisplayed time zone: Eastern Time (US & Canada) change
15:30 - 17:00 | Software SecurityEarly Research Achievement (ERA) Track / Research Papers at L-1710 Chair(s): Sabbir M. Saleh University of Western Ontario | ||
15:30 15mTalk | Characterizing Logs in Vulnerability Reports: In-Depth Analysis and Security Implications Research Papers Yao Shu Wuhan University, Lianyu Zheng Wuhan University, Jinfu Chen Wuhan University, Jifeng Xuan Wuhan University | ||
15:45 15mTalk | Conan: Uncover Consensus Issues in Distributed Databases Using Fuzzing-driven Fault Injection Research Papers Haojia Huang Sun Yat-Sen Universty, Pengfei Chen Sun Yat-sen University, Guangba Yu Sun Yat-sen University, Haiyu Huang Sun Yat-sen University, Jia Chang Huawei, Jun Li Huawei, Jian Han Huawei | ||
16:00 15mTalk | Dissecting APKs from Google Play: Trends, Insights and Security Implications Research Papers Pedro Jesús Ruiz Jiménez University of Luxembourg, Jordan Samhi University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Tegawendé F. Bissyandé University of Luxembourg, Jacques Klein University of Luxembourg | ||
16:15 15mTalk | WakeMint: Detecting Sleepminting Vulnerabilities in NFT Smart Contracts Research Papers Lei Xiao Sun Yat-sen University, Shuo Yang Sun Yat-sen University, Wen Chen Energy Development Research Institute, China Southern Power Grid Company Limited, Zibin Zheng Sun Yat-sen University | ||
16:30 7mTalk | On Categorizing Open Source Software Security Vulnerability Reporting Mechanisms on GitHub Early Research Achievement (ERA) Track Sushawapak Kancharoendee , Thanat Phichitphanphong , Chanikarn Jongyingyos Mahidol University, Brittany Reid Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Raula Gaikovina Kula Osaka University, Morakot Choetkiertikul Mahidol University, Thailand, Chaiyong Rakhitwetsagul Mahidol University, Thailand, Thanwadee Sunetnanta Mahidol University |