Adversaries may abuse Android’s device administration API to obtain a higher degree of control over the device. By abusing the API, adversaries can perform several nefarious actions, such as resetting the device’s password for Endpoint Denial of Service, factory resetting the device for File Deletion and to delete any traces of the malware, disabling all the device’s cameras, or to make it more difficult to uninstall the app.
Device administrators must be approved by the user at runtime, with a system popup showing which actions have been requested by the app. In conjunction with other techniques, such as Input Injection, an app can programmatically grant itself administrator permissions without any user input.
| ID | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| S1061 | AbstractEmu |
AbstractEmu can modify system settings to give itself device administrator privileges.[1] |
| S0540 | Asacub | |
| S9004 | Crocodilus |
Crocodilus has the ability to request device administrator permissions.[3] |
| S0522 | Exobot | |
| S0536 | GPlayed | |
| S1077 | Hornbill | |
| S0539 | Red Alert 2.0 |
Red Alert 2.0 can request device administrator permissions.[7] |
| S1082 | Sunbird | |
| S0318 | XLoader for Android |
XLoader for Android requests Android Device Administrator access.[8] |
| ID | Mitigation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| M1006 | Use Recent OS Version |
Changes were introduced in Android 7 to make abuse of device administrator permissions more difficult.[9] |
| M1011 | User Guidance |
Users should scrutinize every device administration permission request. If the request is not expected or the user does not recognize the application, the application should be uninstalled immediately. |
| ID | Name | Analytic ID | Analytic Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| DET0630 | Detection of Device Administrator Permissions | AN1701 |
Correlates (1) activation of Device Administrator privileges by an application, (2) absence or mismatch of legitimate user interaction during the approval flow, and (3) immediate execution of administrator-level control actions (e.g., password reset, device lock, policy enforcement, prevention of uninstall). The defender observes a causal chain where an application transitions into a privileged device control role and rapidly exercises those capabilities outside expected user-driven patterns. Application vetting services can check for the string |