Debugger Detection

Detecting that a debugger is attached to a production app is a key RASP feature. Attaching a debugger to an app should only be possible in the development phase and should never occur with a production app. A debugger attached to a production app is a clear sign of malicious tampering.

Malwarelytics for Android is able to detect that a debugger has been attached to the app and can be configured to terminate the app in such case.

Configuration

This feature can be configured during the Malwarelytics initialization phase:

val raspConfig = RaspConfig.Builder()
    .checkDebugger(Boolean)
    .exitOnDebugger(Boolean)
    .exitOnDebuggerUrl(String)
    // configuration of other RASP features
    .build()
Method Description
checkDebugger(Boolean) indicates whether debuggers should be detected automatically. Defaults to true.
exitOnDebugger(Boolean) indicates whether the app should be terminated when a debugger is automatically detected. Defaults to false.
exitOnDebuggerUrl(String) defines a URL to be opened when the app is terminated because of debugger detection. Defaults to null.

Usage

After initialization, the debugger detection feature can be accessed via RaspManager. This can be used to register an observer or to trigger a manual debugger detection check.

Registering an Observer

Debugger detection can trigger a certain action. To achieve that, an observer needs to be configured and registered.

Observer configuration:

val raspObserver = object : RaspObserver {
    override fun onDebuggerDetected(debuggerDetected: Boolean) {
        // handle debugger detection
    }
    // handle detection of other RASP features
}

The observer can be registered in RaspManager. When it is no longer needed, it can be unregistered again.

raspManager.registerRaspObserver(raspObserver)
raspManager.unregisterRaspObserver(raspObserver)

Triggering a Manual Check

Debugger detection check can be triggered manually in RaspManager. Two methods are available – isDebuggerAttached() gives a simple boolean answer, whereas getDebuggerDetection() provides more details.

val debuggerDetection = raspManager.getDebuggerDetection()
val isDebuggerAttached = raspManager.isDebuggerAttached()

More information on general RASP feature configuration and usage can be found in this overview.

Last updated on Sep 28, 2022 (12:47) View product
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Malwarelytics for Android