👉 Overview
👀 What ?
Drozer is an open-source, comprehensive security and attack framework for Android. It allows you to search for security vulnerabilities in apps and devices by assuming the role of an app and interacting with the Dalvik VM, other apps' IPC endpoints and the underlying OS.
🧐 Why ?
Understanding how to use Drozer is important because Android is the most popular mobile operating system in the world, which makes it a prime target for cybercriminals. Drozer helps in identifying and understanding potential security vulnerabilities in Android applications and devices. Moreover, its use is not limited to security professionals. Developers can use Drozer to identify vulnerabilities in their apps before the launch.
⛏️ How ?
To use Drozer, first, you need to install it on your system and the Android device or emulator. Then, a server is set up on the Android device, and the system connects to it. Once connected, you can execute various commands to interact with the Android system and the apps installed on it. For example, you can use Drozer to list all permissions an app has or send and receive broadcasts.
⏳ When ?
Drozer has been in use since it was first released in 2012 by MWR InfoSecurity.
⚙️ Technical Explanations
Drozer operates by setting up an agent on the Android device, which acts as a server. The server is then accessed from the system running Drozer using a client. This communication is over a socket, and the commands are sent as serialized Java objects. The server decodes these objects and executes the commands on the Android device. Drozer uses the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) to initially set up the server on the device. It can interact with the underlying Linux OS, the Dalvik VM and other apps, allowing for a wide range of operations, from manipulating files and executing shell commands to interacting with the Android's IPC endpoints.