# Android Task Hijacking

## Task, Back Stack and Foreground Activities

A task is a collection of activities that users interact with when performing a certain job. The activities are arranged in a stack—the _**back stack**_)—in the order in which each activity is opened.

The activity that is **displayed** on the screen is called a **foreground** **activity** and its **task** is called the **foreground** **task**. At a time, only **one foreground task is visible on the screen**.

This is some simple activity flow:

* There's only Activity 1 in the foreground.
* Activity 2 is started which pushes Activity 1 to the Back Stack. Now Activity 2 is in the foreground.
* Activity 3 is started which pushes both Activity 1 and 2 to the Back Stack.
* Now when Activity 3 is closed. The previous activity i.e., 2 is brought automatically to the foreground. This is how task navigation works in Android.

![](<../../.gitbook/assets/image (548).png>)

### Android Multi-tasking - One Task

One task is composed by several activities

![](<../../.gitbook/assets/image (549).png>)

### Android Multi-tasking - Several Tasks

Android usually manages several tasks

![](<../../.gitbook/assets/image (550).png>)

## Task Control Knobs

![](<../../.gitbook/assets/image (551).png>)

## Task affinity attack

### Task affinity and Launch Modes

**Task affinity** is an attribute that is defined in each `<activity>` tag in the `AndroidManifest.xml` file. It describes which Task an Activity prefers to join.\
By default, every activity has the same affinity as the **package** name.

We'll be using this when creating our PoC app.

```markup
<activity android:taskAffinity=""/>
```

**Launch modes** allow you to define how a new instance of an activity is associated with the current task. The [`launchMode`](https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/activity-element#lmode) attribute specifies an instruction on how the activity should be launched into a task.\
There are four different **Launch Modes**:

1. standard (Default)
2. singleTop
3. **singleTask**
4. singleInstance

When the launchMode is set to `singleTask`, the Android system evaluates three possibilities and one of them is the reason why our attack is possible. Here they are -

* **If the Activity instance already exists**:\
  Android resumes the existing instance instead of creating a new one. It means that there is at most one activity instance in the system under this mode.
* **If creating a new activity instance is necessary**:\
  The Activity Manager Service (AMS) selects a task to host the newly created instance by finding a “**matching**” one in all existing tasks. **An activity “matches” a task if they have the same task affinity**. This is the reason why we can **specify the same task affinity as the vulnerable app in our malware/attacker's app so it launches in their task instead of creating it's own**.
* **Without finding a “matching” task**:\
  The AMS creates a new task and makes the new activity instance the root activity of the newly created task.

### Attack

The victim needs to have the **malicious** **app** **installed** in his device. Then, he needs to **open** **it** **before** opening the **vulnerable** **application**. Then, when the **vulnerable** application is **opened**, the **malicious** **application** will be **opened** **instead**. If this malicious application presents the **same** **login** as the vulnerable application the **user won't have any means to know that he is putting his credentials in a malicious application**.

**You can find an attack implemented here:** [**https://github.com/az0mb13/Task\_Hijacking\_Strandhogg**](https://github.com/az0mb13/Task\_Hijacking\_Strandhogg)

## Preventing task hijacking

Setting `taskAffinity=""` can be a quick fix for this issue. The launch mode can also be set to **singleInstance** if the app does not want other activities to join tasks belonging to it. A custom **onBackPressed()** function can also be added, to override the default behaviour.

## **References**

* [**https://blog.dixitaditya.com/android-task-hijacking/**](https://blog.dixitaditya.com/android-task-hijacking/)
* [**https://blog.takemyhand.xyz/2021/02/android-task-hijacking-with.html**](https://blog.takemyhand.xyz/2021/02/android-task-hijacking-with.html)