APKiD

APKiD gives you information about how an APK was made. It identifies many compilers, packers, obfuscators, and other weird stuff. It's PEiD for Android.

For more information on what this tool can be used for, check out:

• Android Compiler Fingerprinting
• Detecting Pirated and Malicious Android Apps with APKiD
• APKiD: PEiD for Android Apps (BlackHat EU/UK Arsenal 2018)
• APKiD: Fast Identification of AppShielding Products
• APKiD: Fast Identification of Mobile RASP SDKs (BlackHat USA Arsenal 2023)

Installing

pip install apkid

Docker

You can also run APKiD with Docker! Of course, this requires that you have git and Docker installed.

Here's how to use Docker:

git clone https://github.com/rednaga/APKiD
cd APKiD/
docker build . -t rednaga:apkid
docker/apkid.sh ~/reverse/targets/android/example/example.apk
[+] APKiD 3.1.0 :: from RedNaga :: rednaga.io
[*] example.apk!classes.dex
 |-> compiler : dx

Usage

usage: apkid [-h] [-v] [-t TIMEOUT] [-r] [--scan-depth SCAN_DEPTH]
             [--entry-max-scan-size ENTRY_MAX_SCAN_SIZE] [--typing {magic,filename,none}] [-st] [-j]
             [-o DIR] [-m] [--print-filter RULES] [--include-types]
             [FILE ...]

APKiD - Android Application Identifier v3.2.0

positional arguments:
  FILE                                       apk, dex, or directory (default: None)

options:
  -h, --help                                 show this help message and exit
  -v, --verbose                              log debug messages (default: False)

scanning:
  -t TIMEOUT, --timeout TIMEOUT              Yara scan timeout (in seconds) (default: 30)
  -r, --recursive                            recurse into subdirectories (default: False)
  --scan-depth SCAN_DEPTH                    how deep to go when scanning nested zips (default: 2)
  --entry-max-scan-size ENTRY_MAX_SCAN_SIZE  max zip entry size to scan in bytes, 0 = no limit
                                             (default: 104857600)
  --typing {magic,filename,none}             method to decide which files to scan (default: magic)
  -st, --scan-trackers                       scans for embedded trackers (default: False)

output:
  -j, --json                                 output scan results in JSON format (default: False)
  -o DIR, --output-dir DIR                   write individual results here (implies --json)
                                             (default: None)
  -m, --print-matches                        print matched rules and strings to stdout (default:
                                             False)
  --print-filter RULES                       filter printed matches: comma-separated rule names to
                                             include ('+' or no prefix) or exclude ('-' prefix).
                                             Implies --print-matches. Use '=' when the value starts
                                             with '-', e.g. --print-filter=-is_apk,-is_signed_apk
                                             (default: )
  --include-types                            include file type info for matched files (default:
                                             False)

Submitting New Packers / Compilers / Obfuscators

If you come across an APK or DEX which APKiD does not recognize, please open a GitHub issue and tell us:

• what you think it is -- obfuscated, packed, etc.
• the file hash (either MD5, SHA1, SHA256)

We are open to any type of concept you might have for "something interesting" to detect, so do not limit yourself solely to packers, compilers or obfuscators. If there is an interesting anti-disassembler, anti-vm, anti-* trick, please make an issue.

Pull requests are welcome. If you're submitting a new rule, be sure to include a file hash of the APK / DEX so we can check the rule.

License

This tool is available under a dual license: a commercial one suitable for closed source projects and a GPL license that can be used in open source software.

Depending on your needs, you must choose one of them and follow its policies. A detail of the policies and agreements for each license type are available in the LICENSE.COMMERCIAL and LICENSE.GPL files.

Hacking

If you want to install the latest version in order to make changes, develop your own rules, and so on, simply clone this repository, compile the rules, and install the package in editable mode:

git clone https://github.com/rednaga/APKiD
cd APKiD
python prep-release.py
pip install -e .[dev,test]

The command python prep-release.py above requires the packages yara-python and yara-python-dex to be already installed.

If the above doesn't work, due to permission errors dependent on your local machine and where Python has been installed, try specifying the --user flag. This is likely needed if you're not using a virtual environment:

pip install -e .[dev,test] --user

If you update any of the rules, be sure to run prep-release.py to recompile them.

If you are using Windows, uninstall any previous versions of Yara and install Yara 3.11.0 and yara-python-dex before compiling

pip uninstall -y yara-python yara-python-dex
pip install yara-python==3.11.0 wheel
pip wheel --wheel-dir=yara-python-dex git+https://github.com/MobSF/yara-python-dex.git
pip install --no-index --find-links=yara-python-dex yara-python-dex

For Package Maintainers

When releasing a new version, make sure the version has been updated in apkid/init.py.

As for running tests, check out .travis.yml to see how the dev and test environments are setup and tests are run.

Update the compiled rules, the readme, build the package and upload to PyPI:

./prep-release.py readme
rm -f dist/*
python setup.py sdist bdist_wheel
twine upload --repository-url https://upload.pypi.org/legacy/ dist/*

For more information see Packaging Projects.