Detection of Input Injection

Technique Detected:  Input Injection | T1516

ID: DET0612
Domains: Mobile
Analytics: AN1666
Version: 1.0
Created: 21 October 2025
Last Modified: 21 October 2025

Analytics

AN1666

The defender correlates Android accessibility or UI-automation-capable behavior from an app identity with injected user-interface actions occurring on behalf of the user in another foreground application. The strongest Android evidence is accessibility-enabled or similarly privileged app behavior that triggers programmatic clicks, global actions, or text insertion into another app's active UI, especially when those actions occur without matching user touch interaction, while the injecting app is backgrounded or foreground-service-only, or when the target foreground app belongs to a sensitive category such as banking, payments, identity, communications, or enterprise access. The detection is strengthened when the injected input sequence is followed by target-app navigation, form submission, transaction progression, or network activity from the target context.

Log Sources
Data Component Name Channel
OS API Execution (DC0021) MobileEDR:telemetry Accessibility-enabled app invoked programmatic click or action on behalf of user while a different app was foregrounded and injected action was not mapped to approved accessibility or autofill workflow
MobileEDR:telemetry Accessibility-enabled app invoked global action such as back, home, recents, or navigation control while target foreground app context changed within TimeWindow
MobileEDR:telemetry Accessibility-enabled app inserted text into active field of different foreground app without user keyboard activity or approved autofill relationship
Application State (DC0123) MobileEDR:telemetry Injecting app remained backgrounded or foreground-service-only while injected click, global action, or text insertion occurred in a different foreground app
MobileEDR:telemetry LastUserInteractionDelta exceeded threshold before injected UI action and no matching touch interaction was observed for the target foreground app during injection sequence
MobileEDR:telemetry Sensitive app category remained foregrounded during injected UI sequence from different app identity
Mutable Elements
Field Description
TimeWindow Correlation window linking injected actions to target-app navigation, submission, or downstream network effects.
AllowedAppList Approved accessibility, autofill, remote-assist, or QA/testing apps vary by organization and device group.
AllowedAccessibilityApps Approved accessibility-enabled apps vary by assistive and enterprise workflow.
AllowedAutofillApps Approved password managers or autofill-capable apps may legitimately inject text into fields.
RecentUserInteractionWindow Defines how close an injected action must be to user interaction to be considered expected.
SensitiveForegroundAppCategories Categories such as banking, payments, identity, communications, and enterprise access may warrant higher sensitivity.
GlobalActionBurstThreshold Threshold for repeated programmatic global actions within a short window.
TextInjectionLengthThreshold Minimum inserted text length or field-population pattern considered suspicious outside approved autofill workflows.
ConsentOrSetupGracePeriod Grace period allowed after explicit user enablement of approved accessibility or autofill workflows before injection is treated as suspicious.