android-debug-tools

This documents describes how to set-up an virtual Android device and how to control it using various tools.

VirtualBox will be used to create a virtual machine running Android, and Docker will be used to create an environment for running the various debug tools: Android Debug Bridge (adb), Objection, and Frida.

Android Virtual Machine

Setup steps

• Download an Android x86 32bit .iso image file from here
  • Use 32bit version for max compatibility
• Create a VirtualBox machine (as similarly done in this video and ), with following configuration:
  • OS: Linux 32 bit (Other)
  • 4 Cores
  • 4096MB Memory
  • Display option Graphics Controller to VBoxVGA and enabled 3D animation
  • Create an 8GB dynamic allocated VDI storage
  • Load .iso into the Optical Drive
  • To enable cross-vbox-guests communication (e.g., adb from a docker container to android guest), add another Host-Only network adapter and use the adapter that is being used in the other virtual machine
• Start machine and choose install
• Create 2 partitions
  • Skip GPT creation
  • New -> Primary -> 4000MB -> Beginning -> Bootable --> Write
  • New -> Logical -> Beginning -> Write
  • Select Quit
  • Select sda1
  • Select ext4 filesystem
  • Select install GRUB
  • Select read-write (root)
  • After the installation is complete, remove the .iso from Optical Drive
  • Select Reboot
• Enable Developer options on Android by going to Settings -> System -> About Tablet -> Build Number and pressing 10 times on this menu item
• Enable the following setting in Settings -> System -> Developer options:
  • Stay awake
  • USB debugging
• Make sure your virtual device is connected via the Wi-Fi network (Android Wi-Fi icon is active) and take a note of the IP address shown at Settings -> System -> About Tablet -> Status -> IP address

Android Debug Tools Docker Image

Setup steps

• Create a Docker Machine, if one doesn't exist yet
  • I've used Docker Toolbox
• Go to VirtualBox Manager GUI -> Settings -> Shared Folders and select a folder from your real machine, that will be accessible to the virtual machine. For example, to map "D:\Data" to "/d/misc" inside the VM:
  • Folder Path: D:\Data
  • Folder Name: /d/misc
  • Enable Auto-mount
  • Enable Make permanent
• You can use the prebuilt image by:

  docker pull arikwe/android-debug-tools
  

• Or, you can build the the Docker image locally using the Dockerfile found in this repository with the following command:

  docker build -t android-debug-tools .
  

Creating and running the Docker container

docker run -it --rm -v //d/misc:/misc -p 5555 --name android-debug-tools arikwe/android-debug-tools

This will spin up a bash shell inside a Docker container, with the debugging tools to debug Android devices.

Note: If you chose to build the image locally using the Dockerfile, make sure to remove the "arikwe/" prefix from the image name in the command above.

---

Usage Examples

Android Debug Bridge (adb): Sideloading APK Application Files

You can use adb for various tasks, like gaining shell access to the virtual Android device, upload files and sideload APK files

From the bash shell, connect to the Android virtual device using the IP shown in the device Status menu item, inside the settings (as noted in the Android Virtual Machine setup part) using the following command (replace the IP)

adb connect 192.168.99.106

After a successful connection, you can sideload APK files, for example, from your host machine's shared folder (e.g., D:\Data), and install them using the following command

adb install /misc/my-super-application.apk

Android Debug Bridge (adb): Sideloading Xposed Framework and turn off SSL pinning

Xposed Framework can be used to turn off device-wide SSL pinning using the TrustMeAlready module

• Just sideload the Xposed Installer APK using adb
• Make sure the app has storage permission
• Open the app, download and install the Xposed framework
• Install the TrustMeAlready module
• Reboot the device

Objection: Turning Off SSL Pinning For A Specific App

You can use Objection to bypass Android's certificate pinning for a certain application. This technique is described here.

For example, to patch an APK using Objection:

objection patchapk -s /misc/my-super-application.apk
adb install /misc/my-super-application.objection.apk

Now run the application in Android and turn off the SSL pinning:

objection explore
android sslpinning disable

or try by using the following single-line command:

objection run android sslpinning disable

Related links

• VirtualBox
• Android Debug Bridge (adb)
• Objection
• Frida
• Xposed Framework
• Brida