• AUTHORIZING STOCKPILE ATTACKS ON ANDROID

Abstract

Android is a software platform and Operating System for mobile devices, based on the Unix kernel, developed by Google and later the Open Handset Alliance. It allows developers to write managed code in Java language. Android is a modern and popular software platform for smart-phones. Among its predominant features is an advanced security model which is based on application-oriented mandatory access control and sandboxing.[1] This allows developers and users to restrict the execution of an application to the privileges it has (mandatorily) assigned at installation time. The exploitation of vulnerabilities in program code is hence believed to be confined within the privilege boundaries of an application's sandbox.[2] However, in this paper we show that a Authorizing Stockpile attack is possible. We show that a genuine application exploited at runtime or a malicious application can escalate granted permissions. Our results immediately imply that Android's security model cannot deal with a transitive permission usage attack.