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On this page
  • Decompiling / Reversing
  • JADX
  • JADX-GUI
  • DEX2jar
  • JD-GUI
  • APKTOOL
  • Androguard

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  1. Android-AppSec

Reverse Engineering APK

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Last updated 11 months ago

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Decompiling / Reversing

When decompiling APKs, various tools can be used depending on the complexity and obfuscation of the code. The main tools are:

  • APKTool

  • JADX

  • Dex2Jar -> JD-GUI

  • Androguard

JADX

JADX is a widely used tool for decompiling APKs into Java code. It is open-source and can be installed from its .

Basic Usage:

jadx -d outdir your_app.apk

This command decompiles the APK and places the decompiled Java classes into the outdir directory.

Common Parameters:

  • -r, --no-res: Do not decode resources (useful to avoid errors during decompilation).

  • --escape-unicode: Escape non-Latin characters in strings.

  • -j, --threads-count: Set the number of threads for processing (e.g., -j 4 for 4 threads).

  • --show-bad-code: Include "bad code" that might be inconsistent or incorrectly decompiled.

  • --log-level: Set the log level (e.g., --log-level error).

Deobfuscation Parameters:

  • --deobf: Activate deobfuscation.

  • --deobf-min: Minimum length of name for renaming.

  • --deobf-max: Maximum length of name for renaming.

  • --deobf-rewrite-cfg: Force saving the deobfuscation map.

  • --deobf-use-sourcename: Use the source file name as class name alias.

  • --deobf-parse-kotlin-metadata: Parse Kotlin metadata to class and package names.

Flow Chart Generation: To create a flow chart of functions, use the --cfg parameter:

jadx -d out --cfg your_app.apk

Convert the resulting .dot files to images with tools like graphviz and pydot.

JADX-GUI

JADX-GUI provides a graphical interface for viewing and navigating decompiled code. It shares the same core as the command-line version of JADX.

DEX2jar

DEX2jar converts the classes.dex file from an APK to a JAR file that can be read by JD-GUI.

Steps:

  1. Unzip the APK.

  2. Convert classes.dex to JAR:

    d2j-dex2jar.sh classes.dex
  3. Open the resulting JAR file with JD-GUI.

JD-GUI

JD-GUI is used to display the classes inside a JAR file in a user-friendly GUI. It does not have special parameters and is straightforward to use.

APKTOOL

APKTOOL is a versatile tool for decompiling and rebuilding APKs, handling both resources and manifest files.

Basic Usage:

apktool d your_app.apk

Common Parameters:

  • -r: Do not decompile resource files.

  • --force-manifest: Ensure the AndroidManifest.xml is decompiled even when using the -r parameter.

APKTOOL is essential for tasks that require manipulating resources or rebuilding the APK after modification.

Androguard

Basic Usage:

  • Display Android app manifest:

    androguard axml path/to/app.apk
  • Display app metadata (version and app ID):

    androguard apkid path/to/app.apk
  • Decompile Java code from an app:

    androguard decompile path/to/app.apk --output path/to/directory

Decompiling and Creating CFGs: To decompile an APK and create control flow graphs:

androguard decompile -o outputfolder -f png -i someapp.apk --limit "^Lcom/elite/.*"

Ensure graphviz and pydot are installed:

sudo apt-get install graphviz
pip install -U pydot

This command will decompile the app and generate CFGs in the specified format, limited to methods matching the regex ^Lcom/elite/.*.

Example CFG:

  • The generated CFGs help trace back the control flow, useful for analyzing heavily obfuscated code.

Creating Call Graphs: To create a call graph from an APK:

androguard cg -o callgraph.gml path/to/app.apk

This generates a call graph in the specified format, which can be viewed with graph visualization tools like Gephi.

Filtering Call Graphs: Filter methods using regex to manage large call graphs:

androguard cg -o callgraph.gml --classname "^Lcom/elite/.*" path/to/app.apk

Androguard is highly configurable and can output detailed analysis, making it indispensable for thorough reverse engineering and deobfuscation efforts.

Androguard is a powerful tool written in Python for reverse engineering Android applications. It can decompile APKs, analyze the manifest, and generate control flow graphs (CFGs). It is available on .

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