Are there any tools to sandbox a malware application even more than the granted permissions on Android? [closed]

Question

Suppose I want to run some program which requests too many permissions. For example, record from the microphone or read IMEI of my phone. However, there are no practical explanation why recording from the mic or IMEI number is needed for this particular application, except for data mining.

I want to try this app, but restrict its permissions. For example, if it reads IMEI, it should get random IMEI (but the same every time). If it tries to read the mic, it should get silence.

Some other interesting permissions:

1. Phonebook read/write access - returns zero contacts, pretend that write is OK, but actually do nothing.
2. Send SMS - pretend that SMS is sent, but do nothing.
3. Get list of visible Wi-Fi networks - return zero networks.

Obviously the tool should require a rooted phone. Are there any such tools?

Answer 1

XPrivacyLua is a module for Xposed framework which does exactly what you need. It is free and open source. Works on rooted devices. It's the successor of XPrivacy.

Install Xposed from here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3034811

You can then download the XPrivacyLua module from the Xposed repo through the Xposed Manager app, or manually from here:

https://repo.xposed.info/module/eu.faircode.xlua

Source:

https://github.com/M66B/XPrivacyLua

---

If you're running Android 5 or lower, you can use the legacy XPrivacy module.

Answer 2

MockDroid is another academic firmware with data faking capabilities.

Answer 3

It's a logical solution for a potential problem and a long time irritation of mine.

However, you must remember that whatever solutions are available for a security application would also be available for a malware app. If a security app could block net access then a malware app could block it also, stopping a security app from updating data files for instance.

It needs to be done at the system level, not as another application.

See my post here for my thoughts.

Answer 4

A translated version of the Chinese version of LBE is available on XDA developers, and it works very well on Jelly Bean. Apparently the Chinese version is still actively developed.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1422479

Answer 5

There is an ongoing research on this this subject. A non yet released proof of concept is implemented for some of the privacy sensitive APIs exactly as I proposed. The privacy manager is called TISSA, short for Taming Information-Stealing Smartphone Applications.

Answer 6

Marshmallow (Android 6) has a new permissions model. Applications targeting Marshmallow can now be restricted to fewer permissions at runtime, and these applications should fail gracefully, rather than the all-or-nothing permissions model of prior Android versions. In Marshmallow, this is a feature of the standard OS, and does not require rooting or additional applications.

Answer 7

https://island.oasisfeng.com/

Island does most if not all of this...

Answer 8

I'm fairly certain that tool that you seek doesn't exist yet. But your idea is great. Few point though;

ofc; app can freely read and write it's own app directory

giving fake read acces : for every possible read (and there's a lot app can try to read) default response should be generate; lot a work but doable

however; giving fake write access is lot harder; what if it uses sd card to store big temp files; like bitmaps. On unrooted phone; only place app can write is sd card; and using content provider (for stuff like contacts, and calendar). And app desiger isn't expecting to fail in writing data; so app could crash.

Good thing is that the worst that could happen is that app might crash.