M10: Absence of Binary Protections | OWASP Foundation

Overview

This webpage delves into the risk posed by the absence of binary protections in mobile apps, covering associated security weaknesses, technical impacts, and business impacts. It also provides information on how to prevent this vulnerability and includes example attack scenarios.

Description

The absence of binary protections in a mobile app exposes it to various risks, including the potential for an adversary to analyze, reverse engineer, and modify the app's code. This can result in the theft of sensitive intellectual property and the unauthorized modification of the app's behavior. Organizations can mitigate this risk by implementing binary protections and detecting code modifications at runtime. Failure to address this vulnerability can lead to privacy-related data theft, unauthorized access and fraud, brand and trust damage, revenue loss and piracy, intellectual property theft, and compromised user experience.

How to Prevent ?

To prevent the absence of binary protections in a mobile app, organizations should follow secure coding techniques and implement specific controls. These controls include jailbreak detection, checksum controls, certificate pinning, and debugger detection. Additionally, the app should be able to detect code modifications at runtime and react accordingly. More detailed remediation strategies can be found in the OWASP Reverse Engineering and Code Modification Prevention Project. Android-specific best practices include root detection and analysis of bytecode, while Windows Phone apps can implement .NET decompilers and runtime analysis. It is important for organizations to prioritize the security of their mobile apps and consider the guidance provided by security experts in the field.

Example Attack Scenarios:

• Disabling Code Encryption (ClutchMod):  In this attack scenario, an adversary uses tools like ClutchMod to disable code encryption in iOS apps, making it easier to analyze and modify the code.

• Jailbreak Detection Evasion (xcon):  In this attack scenario, an adversary employs tools like xcon to evade jailbreak detection in iOS apps, enabling them to bypass security controls and potentially gain unauthorized access.

• Runtime Analysis (ADB):  In this attack scenario, an adversary utilizes tools like ADB to perform runtime analysis on Android apps, allowing them to understand the app's behavior and potentially identify vulnerabilities.

• Reverse Engineering (IDA Pro; Hopper):  In this attack scenario, an adversary uses tools like IDA Pro or Hopper to reverse engineer the code of iOS or Android apps, enabling them to understand the app's functionality and potentially identify exploitable weaknesses.