セキュリティの機能強化

Android のセキュリティ機能とサービスは継続的に改善されています。左側のナビゲーションでリリースごとに強化されている機能の一覧をご覧ください。

Android 14

Every Android release includes dozens of security enhancements to protect users. Here are some of the major security enhancements available in Android 14:

  • Hardware-assisted AddressSanitizer (HWASan), introduced in Android 10, is a memory error detection tool similar to AddressSanitizer. Android 14 brings significant improvements to HWASan. Learn how it helps prevent bugs from making it into Android releases, HWAddressSanitizer
  • In Android 14, starting with apps that share location data with third-parties, the system runtime permission dialog now includes a clickable section that highlights the app's data-sharing practices, including information such as why an app may decide to share data with third parties.
  • Android 12 introduced an option to disable 2G support at the modem level, which protects users from the inherent security risk from 2G's obsolete security model. Recognizing how critical disabling 2G could be for enterprise customers, Android 14 enables this security feature in Android Enterprise, introducing support for IT admins to restrict the ability of a managed device to downgrade to 2G connectivity.
  • Added support to reject null-ciphered cellular connections, ensuring that circuit-switched voice and SMS traffic is always encrypted and protected from passive over-the-air interception. Learn more about Android's program to harden cellular connectivity.
  • Added support for multiple IMEIs
  • Since Android 14, AES-HCTR2 is the preferred mode of filenames encryption for devices with accelerated cryptography instructions.
  • Cellular connectivity
  • Documentation added for Android Safety Center
  • If your app targets Android 14 and uses Dynamic Code Loading (DCL), all dynamically-loaded files must be marked as read-only. Otherwise, the system throws an exception. We recommend that apps avoid dynamically loading code whenever possible, as doing so greatly increases the risk that an app can be compromised by code injection or code tampering.

Check out our full AOSP release notes and the Android Developer features and changes list.

Android 13

Every Android release includes dozens of security enhancements to protect users. Here are some of the major security enhancements available in Android 13:

  • Android 13 adds multi-document presentation support. This new Presentation Session interface enables an app to do a multi-document presentation, something which isn't possible with the existing API. For further information, refer to Identity Credential
  • In Android 13, intents originating from external apps are delivered to an exported component if and only if the intents match their declared intent-filter elements.
  • Open Mobile API (OMAPI) is a standard API used to communicate with a device's Secure Element. Before Android 13, only apps and framework modules had access to this interface. By converting it to a vendor stable interface, HAL modules are also capable of communicating with the secure elements through the OMAPI service. For more information, see OMAPI Vendor Stable Interface.
  • As of Android 13-QPR, shared UIDs are deprecated. Users of Android 13 or higher should put the line `android:sharedUserMaxSdkVersion="32"` in their manifest. This entry prevents new users from getting a shared UID. For further information on UIDs, see App signing.
  • Android 13 added support Keystore symmetric cryptographic primitives such as AES (Advanced Encryption Standard), HMAC (Keyed-Hash Message Authentication Code), and asymmetric cryptographic algorithms (including Elliptic Curve, RSA2048, RSA4096, and Curve 25519)
  • Android 13 (API level 33) and higher supports a runtime permission for sending non-exempt notifications from an app. This gives users control over which permission notifications they see.
  • Added per-use prompt for apps requesting access to all device logs, giving users the ability to allow or deny access.
  • introduced the Android Virtualization Framework (AVF), which brings together different hypervisors under one framework with standardized APIs. It provides secure and private execution environments for executing workloads isolated by hypervisor.
  • Introduced APK signature scheme v3.1 All new key rotations that use apksigner use the v3.1 signature scheme by default to target rotation for Android 13 and higher.

Check out our full AOSP release notes and the Android Developer features and changes list.

Android 12

Android のすべてのリリースで、ユーザーを保護するためにさまざまなセキュリティ機能が強化されています。Android 12 では、次のようなセキュリティ機能が強化されました。

  • Android 12 では、BiometricManager.Strings API が導入されています。この API は、認証に BiometricPrompt を使用しているアプリ用にローカライズされた文字列を提供します。これらの文字列はデバイスで認識するためのもので、使用できる認証の種類を具体的に示します。Android 12 では、ディスプレイ内蔵指紋認証センサーもサポートしています。
  • ディスプレイ内蔵指紋認証センサーのサポートが追加されました
  • 指紋認証 Android インターフェース定義言語（AIDL）が導入されました
  • 新しい顔認証 AIDL のサポートが追加されました
  • プラットフォーム開発用の言語として Rust が導入されました
  • ユーザーのおおよその位置情報へのアクセスのみを許可するオプションが追加されました
  • アプリがカメラやマイクを使用している場合、ステータスバーにプライバシー インジケータが表示されるようになりました
  • Android の Private Compute Core（PCC）が実装されました
  • 2G サポートを無効にするオプションが追加されました

Android 11

Every Android release includes dozens of security enhancements to protect users. For a list of some of the major security enhancements available in Android 11, see the Android Release Notes.

Android 10

Every Android release includes dozens of security enhancements to protect users. Android 10 includes several security and privacy enhancements. See the Android 10 release notes for a complete list of changes in Android 10.

Security

BoundsSanitizer

Android 10 deploys BoundsSanitizer (BoundSan) in Bluetooth and codecs. BoundSan uses UBSan's bounds sanitizer. This mitigation is enabled on a per-module level. It helps keep critical components of Android secure and shouldn't be disabled. BoundSan is enabled in the following codecs:

  • libFLAC
  • libavcdec
  • libavcenc
  • libhevcdec
  • libmpeg2
  • libopus
  • libvpx
  • libspeexresampler
  • libvorbisidec
  • libaac
  • libxaac

Execute-only memory

By default, executable code sections for AArch64 system binaries are marked execute-only (nonreadable) as a hardening mitigation against just-in-time code reuse attacks. Code that mixes data and code together and code that purposefully inspects these sections (without first remapping the memory segments as readable) no longer functions. Apps with a target SDK of Android 10 (API level 29 or higher) are impacted if the app attempts to read code sections of execute-only memory (XOM) enabled system libraries in memory without first marking the section as readable.

Extended access

Trust agents, the underlying mechanism used by tertiary authentication mechanisms such as Smart Lock, can only extend unlock in Android 10. Trust agents can no longer unlock a locked device and can only keep a device unlocked for a maximum of four hours.

Face authentication

Face authentication allows users to unlock their device simply by looking at the front of their device. Android 10 adds support for a new face authentication stack that can securely process camera frames, preserving security and privacy during face authentication on supported hardware. Android 10 also provides an easy way for security-compliant implementations to enable app integration for transactions such as online banking or other services.

Integer Overflow Sanitization

Android 10 enables Integer Overflow Sanitization (IntSan) in software codecs. Ensure that playback performance is acceptable for any codecs that aren't supported in the device's hardware. IntSan is enabled in the following codecs:

  • libFLAC
  • libavcdec
  • libavcenc
  • libhevcdec
  • libmpeg2
  • libopus
  • libvpx
  • libspeexresampler
  • libvorbisidec

Modular system components

Android 10 modularizes some Android system components and enables them to be updated outside of the normal Android release cycle. Some modules include:

OEMCrypto

Android 10 uses OEMCrypto API version 15.

Scudo

Scudo is a dynamic user-mode memory allocator designed to be more resilient against heap-related vulnerabilities. It provides the standard C allocation and deallocation primitives, as well as the C++ primitives.

ShadowCallStack

ShadowCallStack (SCS) is an LLVM instrumentation mode that protects against return address overwrites (like stack buffer overflows) by saving a function's return address to a separately allocated ShadowCallStack instance in the function prolog of nonleaf functions and loading the return address from the ShadowCallStack instance in the function epilog.

WPA3 and Wi-Fi Enhanced Open

Android 10 adds support for the Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 (WPA3) and Wi-Fi Enhanced Open security standards to provide better privacy and robustness against known attacks.

Privacy

App access when targeting Android 9 or lower

If your app runs on Android 10 or higher but targets Android 9 (API level 28) or lower, the platform applies the following behavior:

  • If your app declares a <uses-permission> element for either ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION or ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION, the system automatically adds a <uses-permission> element for ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION during installation.
  • If your app requests either ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION or ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION, the system automatically adds ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION to the request.

Background activity restrictions

Starting in Android 10, the system places restrictions on starting activities from the background. This behavior change helps minimize interruptions for the user and keeps the user more in control of what's shown on their screen. As long as your app starts activities as a direct result of user interaction, your app most likely isn't affected by these restrictions.
To learn more about the recommended alternative to starting activities from the background, see the guide on how to alert users of time-sensitive events in your app.

Camera metadata

Android 10 changes the breadth of information that the getCameraCharacteristics() method returns by default. In particular, your app must have the CAMERA permission in order to access potentially device-specific metadata that is included in this method's return value.
To learn more about these changes, see the section about camera fields that require permission.

Clipboard data

Unless your app is the default input method editor (IME) or is the app that currently has focus, your app cannot access clipboard data on Android 10 or higher.

Device location

To support the additional control that users have over an app's access to location information, Android 10 introduces the ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION permission.
Unlike the ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION and ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION permissions, the ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION permission only affects an app's access to location when it runs in the background. An app is considered to be accessing location in the background unless one of the following conditions is satisfied:

  • An activity belonging to the app is visible.
  • The app is running a foreground service that has declared a foreground service type of location.
    To declare the foreground service type for a service in your app, set your app's targetSdkVersion or compileSdkVersion to 29 or higher. Learn more about how foreground services can continue user-initiated actions that require access to location.

External storage

By default, apps targeting Android 10 and higher are given scoped access into external storage, or scoped storage. Such apps can see the following types of files within an external storage device without needing to request any storage-related user permissions:

To learn more about scoped storage, as well as how to share, access, and modify files that are saved on external storage devices, see the guides on how to manage files in external storage and access and modify media files.

MAC address randomization

On devices that run Android 10 or higher, the system transmits randomized MAC addresses by default.
If your app handles an enterprise use case, the platform provides APIs for several operations related to MAC addresses:

  • Obtain randomized MAC address: Device owner apps and profile owner apps can retrieve the randomized MAC address assigned to a specific network by calling getRandomizedMacAddress().
  • Obtain actual, factory MAC address: Device owner apps can retrieve a device's actual hardware MAC address by calling getWifiMacAddress(). This method is useful for tracking fleets of devices.

Non-resettable device identifiers

Starting in Android 10, apps must have the READ_PRIVILEGED_PHONE_STATE privileged permission in order to access the device's non-resettable identifiers, which include both IMEI and serial number.

If your app doesn't have the permission and you try asking for information about non-resettable identifiers anyway, the platform's response varies based on target SDK version:

  • If your app targets Android 10 or higher, a SecurityException occurs.
  • If your app targets Android 9 (API level 28) or lower, the method returns null or placeholder data if the app has the READ_PHONE_STATE permission. Otherwise, a SecurityException occurs.

Physical activity recognition

Android 10 introduces the android.permission.ACTIVITY_RECOGNITION runtime permission for apps that need to detect the user's step count or classify the user's physical activity, such as walking, biking, or moving in a vehicle. This is designed to give users visibility of how device sensor data is used in Settings.
Some libraries within Google Play services, such as the Activity Recognition API and the Google Fit API, don't provide results unless the user has granted your app this permission.
The only built-in sensors on the device that require you to declare this permission are the step counter and step detector sensors.
If your app targets Android 9 (API level 28) or lower, the system auto-grants the android.permission.ACTIVITY_RECOGNITION permission to your app, as needed, if your app satisfies each of the following conditions:

  • The manifest file includes the com.google.android.gms.permission.ACTIVITY_RECOGNITION permission.
  • The manifest file doesn't include the android.permission.ACTIVITY_RECOGNITION permission.

If the system-auto grants the android.permission.ACTIVITY_RECOGNITION permission, your app retains the permission after you update your app to target Android 10. However, the user can revoke this permission at any time in system settings.

/proc/net filesystem restrictions

On devices that run Android 10 or higher, apps cannot access /proc/net, which includes information about a device's network state. Apps that need access to this information, such as VPNs, should use the NetworkStatsManager or ConnectivityManager class.

Permission groups removed from UI

As of Android 10, apps cannot look up how permissions are grouped in the UI.

Removal of contacts affinity

Starting in Android 10, the platform doesn't keep track of contacts affinity information. As a result, if your app conducts a search on the user's contacts, the results aren't ordered by frequency of interaction.
The guide about ContactsProvider contains a notice describing the specific fields and methods that are obsolete on all devices starting in Android 10.

Restricted access to screen contents

To protect users' screen contents, Android 10 prevents silent access to the device's screen contents by changing the scope of the READ_FRAME_BUFFER, CAPTURE_VIDEO_OUTPUT, and CAPTURE_SECURE_VIDEO_OUTPUT permissions. As of Android 10, these permissions are signature-access only.
Apps that need to access the device's screen contents should use the MediaProjection API, which displays a prompt asking the user to provide consent.

USB device serial number

If your app targets Android 10 or higher, your app cannot read the serial number until the user has granted your app permission to access the USB device or accessory.
To learn more about working with USB devices, see the guide on how to configure USB hosts.

Wi-Fi

Apps targeting Android 10 or higher cannot enable or disable Wi-Fi. The WifiManager.setWifiEnabled() method always returns false.
If you need to prompt users to enable and disable Wi-Fi, use a settings panel.

Restrictions on direct access to configured Wi-Fi networks

To protect user privacy, manual configuration of the list of Wi-Fi networks is restricted to system apps and device policy controllers (DPCs). A given DPC can be either the device owner or the profile owner.
If your app targets Android 10 or higher, and it isn't a system app or a DPC, then the following methods don't return useful data:

Android 9

Android のすべてのリリースで、ユーザーを保護するためにさまざまなセキュリティ機能が強化されています。Android 9 で利用できる強化されたセキュリティ機能の主なものについては、Android リリースノートをご覧ください。

Android 8

Android のすべてのリリースで、ユーザーを保護するためにさまざまなセキュリティ機能が強化されています。Android 8.0 では、次のようなセキュリティ機能が強化されました。

  • 暗号化。仕事用プロファイルで鍵を除去できるようになりました。
  • 確認済みの起動。Android 確認付きブート（AVB）が追加されました。ブートローダーで使用されるロールバック保護をサポートする確認付きブートのコードベースが AOSP に追加されました。HLOS のロールバック保護について、推奨ブートローダーをサポートします。推奨ブートローダーは、物理的にデバイスを操作するユーザーのみがロック解除できます。
  • ロック画面。不正使用防止機能を備えたハードウェアを使用してロック画面の認証情報を検証するサポートが追加されました。
  • キーストア。Android 8.0 以降を搭載したすべてのデバイスでは、鍵アテステーションが要求されます。ゼロタッチ登録を改善する ID アテステーションのサポートが追加されました。
  • サンドボックス化。フレームワークとデバイス固有のコンポーネントの間でプロジェクト Treble の標準インターフェースを使用する多くのコンポーネントが、より厳格にサンドボックス化されました。すべての信頼できないアプリに seccomp フィルタリングが適用され、カーネルの攻撃対象領域が削減されました。WebView は、システムの残りの部分へのアクセスが大幅に制限される独立したプロセスで実行されます。
  • カーネルの強化。強化された usercopy、PAN エミュレーション、init 後の読み取り専用処理、KASLR が実装されました。
  • ユーザー空間の強化。メディア スタック用に CFI が実装されました。アプリ オーバーレイはシステムにとって不可欠なウィンドウを覆うことができなくなりました。ユーザーはこれを非表示にできます。
  • ストリーミング OS アップデート。ディスク容量が少ないデバイスでのアップデートが可能になりました。
  • 不明なアプリのインストール。ユーザーがファーストパーティのアプリストア以外のソースからアプリをインストールする際は、権限を付与する必要があります。
  • プライバシー。Android ID（SSAID）の値は、デバイス上のアプリとユーザーごとに異なります。ウェブブラウザ アプリの場合、Widevine クライアント ID は、アプリ パッケージ名とウェブオリジンごとに異なる値を返します。net.hostname は空になり、DHCP クライアントはホスト名を送信しなくなりました。android.os.Build.SERIAL は、ユーザーが制御する権限の背後で保護される Build.SERIAL API に置き換えられました。一部のチップセットで、MAC アドレスのランダム化が改善されました。

Android 7

Android のすべてのリリースで、ユーザーを保護するためにさまざまなセキュリティ機能が強化されています。Android 7.0 では、次のようなセキュリティ機能が強化されました。

  • ファイルベースの暗号化。ストレージ領域全体を 1 単位として暗号化するのではなく、ファイルレベルで暗号化することで、デバイス上の個々のユーザーとプロファイル（個人用や仕事用など）を適切に切り離して保護できます。
  • ダイレクト ブート。ファイルベースの暗号化によって有効化されるダイレクト ブートでは、ロック解除されていなくてもデバイスの電源が入っていれば、アラームやユーザー補助機能などの特定のアプリを実行できます。
  • 確認付きブート。不正侵入されたデバイスが起動されないように、確認付きブートが厳格に適用されるようになりました。エラー修正がサポートされ、悪意のないデータの破損に対する信頼性が向上しています。
  • SELinux。SELinux 構成が更新され、seccomp の適用範囲が拡大したことで、アプリ サンドボックスをさらにロックして攻撃対象領域を減らします。
  • ライブラリのロード順序のランダム化と ASLR の改善。ランダム性を上げることで、コード再利用攻撃の精度が低下します。
  • カーネルの強化。カーネルメモリの一部を読み取り専用にしてユーザー空間アドレスへのカーネル アクセスを制限し、既存の攻撃対象領域をさらに減らすことで、新しいカーネルのメモリ保護を強化しました。
  • APK 署名スキーム v2。検証速度を改善して整合性に関する保証を強化するファイル全体の署名スキームが導入されました。
  • 信頼できる CA ストア。アプリが安全なネットワーク トラフィックへのアクセスを制御しやすくするために、ユーザーがインストールした認証局とデバイス管理 API 経由でインストールされた認証局は、API レベル 24 以降をターゲットとするアプリではデフォルトで信頼されなくなりました。また、すべての新しい Android デバイスに、信頼できる同一の CA ストアが付属している必要があります。
  • ネットワーク セキュリティ構成。宣言型構成ファイルを使用して、ネットワーク セキュリティと TLS を構成します。

Android 6

Android のすべてのリリースで、ユーザーを保護するためにさまざまなセキュリティ機能が強化されています。Android 6.0 では、次のようなセキュリティ機能が強化されました。

  • 実行時の権限。アプリはインストール時に権限を付与されるのではなく、実行時に権限をリクエストします。ユーザーは、M と M より前のアプリの両方で、権限のオンとオフを切り替えることができます。
  • 確認付きブート。スマートフォンがブートローダーからオペレーティング システムまですべて正常な状態であることを確認するため、実行に先立ってシステム ソフトウェアの一連の暗号チェックが実施されます。
  • ハードウェアから分離されたセキュリティ。カーネルの侵害やローカルの物理攻撃から鍵を保護するため、Fingerprint API、ロック画面、デバイスの暗号化、クライアント証明書では新しいハードウェア抽象化レイヤ（HAL）が使用されます。
  • 指紋。一度タッチするだけでデバイスをロック解除できるようになりました。デベロッパーは、指紋を使用して暗号鍵をロックおよびロック解除する新しい API も利用できます。
  • SD カードの導入。デバイスにリムーバブル メディアを導入して、アプリのローカルのデータ、写真、動画などに利用できるストレージを拡張できます。なお、それらは引き続きブロックレベルの暗号化によって保護されます。
  • クリアテキストのトラフィック。デベロッパーは、新しい StrictMode を使用して、アプリがクリアテキストを使用しないことを保証できます。
  • システムの強化。SELinux によって適用されるポリシーによってシステムが強化されました。これには、ユーザー間の分離の改善、IOCTL フィルタリングの提供、公開サービスの脅威の軽減、SELinux ドメインのさらなる厳格化、/proc アクセスの大幅な制限が含まれます。
  • USB アクセス制御。ユーザーは、スマートフォン上のファイル、ストレージ、またはその他の機能に対する USB アクセスを許可するかどうか確認を求められます。現在のところデフォルトは充電のみで、ストレージへのアクセスについてユーザーの明示的な同意が求められます。

Android 5

5.0

Every Android release includes dozens of security enhancements to protect users. Here are some of the major security enhancements available in Android 5.0:

  • Encrypted by default. On devices that ship with L out-of-the-box, full disk encryption is enabled by default to improve protection of data on lost or stolen devices. Devices that update to L can be encrypted in Settings > Security .
  • Improved full disk encryption. The user password is protected against brute-force attacks using scrypt and, where available, the key is bound to the hardware keystore to prevent off-device attacks. As always, the Android screen lock secret and the device encryption key are not sent off the device or exposed to any application.
  • Android sandbox reinforced with SELinux . Android now requires SELinux in enforcing mode for all domains. SELinux is a mandatory access control (MAC) system in the Linux kernel used to augment the existing discretionary access control (DAC) security model. This new layer provides additional protection against potential security vulnerabilities.
  • Smart Lock. Android now includes trustlets that provide more flexibility for unlocking devices. For example, trustlets can allow devices to be unlocked automatically when close to another trusted device (through NFC, Bluetooth) or being used by someone with a trusted face.
  • Multi user, restricted profile, and guest modes for phones and tablets. Android now provides for multiple users on phones and includes a guest mode that can be used to provide easy temporary access to your device without granting access to your data and apps.
  • Updates to WebView without OTA. WebView can now be updated independent of the framework and without a system OTA. This allows for faster response to potential security issues in WebView.
  • Updated cryptography for HTTPS and TLS/SSL. TLSv1.2 and TLSv1.1 is now enabled, Forward Secrecy is now preferred, AES-GCM is now enabled, and weak cipher suites (MD5, 3DES, and export cipher suites) are now disabled. See https://developer.android.com/reference/javax/net/ssl/SSLSocket.html for more details.
  • non-PIE linker support removed. Android now requires all dynamically linked executables to support PIE (position-independent executables). This enhances Android's address space layout randomization (ASLR) implementation.
  • FORTIFY_SOURCE improvements. The following libc functions now implement FORTIFY_SOURCE protections: stpcpy(), stpncpy(), read(), recvfrom(), FD_CLR(), FD_SET(), and FD_ISSET(). This provides protection against memory-corruption vulnerabilities involving those functions.
  • Security Fixes. Android 5.0 also includes fixes for Android-specific vulnerabilities. Information about these vulnerabilities has been provided to Open Handset Alliance members, and fixes are available in Android Open Source Project. To improve security, some devices with earlier versions of Android may also include these fixes.

Android 4 以前

Android のすべてのリリースで、ユーザーを保護するためにさまざまなセキュリティ機能が強化されています。Android 4.4 では、次のようなセキュリティ機能が強化されました。

  • SELinux による Android サンドボックスの強化。Android で、enforcing モードの SELinux が使用されるようになりました。SELinux は、既存の任意アクセス制御（DAC）ベースのセキュリティ モデルを強化するために使用される、Linux カーネルの強制アクセス制御（MAC）システムです。これにより、潜在的なセキュリティの脆弱性に対する保護が強化されます。
  • ユーザー別 VPN。マルチユーザー デバイスで、VPN がユーザーごとに適用されるようになりました。これにより、デバイスの他のユーザーに影響を与えることなく、VPN 経由ですべてのネットワーク トラフィックをルーティングできます。
  • AndroidKeyStore での ECDSA プロバイダのサポート。ECDSA アルゴリズムと DSA アルゴリズムを使用できるキーストア プロバイダが Android に追加されました。
  • デバイス モニタリングに関する警告。Android で、暗号化されたネットワーク トラフィックのモニタリングが可能なデバイス証明書ストアに証明書が追加された場合に警告が表示されます。
  • FORTIFY_SOURCE。Android で FORTIFY_SOURCE レベル 2 がサポートされるようになったため、コードはすべてこれらの保護機能でコンパイルされます。FORTIFY_SOURCE は clang で動作するように拡張されました。
  • 証明書の固定。Android 4.4 は、セキュア SSL/TLS 通信での不正な Google 証明書の使用を検出して阻止します。
  • セキュリティに関する修正。Android 4.4 では、Android 固有の脆弱性に対する修正も行われています。これらの脆弱性に関する情報は、オープン ハンドセット アライアンスのメンバーに提供されています。修正プログラムは Android オープンソース プロジェクトで入手できます。また、Android の以前のバージョンがインストールされている一部のデバイスでも、セキュリティ強化のために修正プログラムが適用されている場合があります。

Every Android release includes dozens of security enhancements to protect users. The following are some of the security enhancements available in Android 4.3:

  • Android sandbox reinforced with SELinux. This release strengthens the Android sandbox using the SELinux mandatory access control system (MAC) in the Linux kernel. SELinux reinforcement is invisible to users and developers, and adds robustness to the existing Android security model while maintaining compatibility with existing apps. To ensure continued compatibility this release allows the use of SELinux in a permissive mode. This mode logs any policy violations, but will not break apps or affect system behavior.
  • No setuid or setgid programs. Added support for filesystem capabilities to Android system files and removed all setuid or setgid programs. This reduces root attack surface and the likelihood of potential security vulnerabilities.
  • ADB authentication. Starting in Android 4.2.2, connections to ADB are authenticated with an RSA keypair. This prevents unauthorized use of ADB where the attacker has physical access to a device.
  • Restrict Setuid from Android Apps. The /system partition is now mounted nosuid for zygote-spawned processes, preventing Android apps from executing setuid programs. This reduces root attack surface and the likelihood of potential security vulnerabilities.
  • Capability bounding. Android zygote and ADB now use prctl(PR_CAPBSET_DROP) to drop unnecessary capabilities prior to executing apps. This prevents Android apps and apps launched from the shell from acquiring privileged capabilities.
  • AndroidKeyStore Provider. Android now has a keystore provider that allows apps to create exclusive use keys. This provides apps with an API to create or store private keys that cannot be used by other apps.
  • KeyChain isBoundKeyAlgorithm. Keychain API now provides a method (isBoundKeyType) that allows apps to confirm that system-wide keys are bound to a hardware root of trust for the device. This provides a place to create or store private keys that can't be exported off the device, even in the event of a root compromise.
  • NO_NEW_PRIVS. Android zygote now uses prctl(PR_SET_NO_NEW_PRIVS) to block addition of new privileges prior to execution app code. This prevents Android apps from performing operations that can elevate privileges through execve. (This requires Linux kernel version 3.5 or greater).
  • FORTIFY_SOURCE enhancements. Enabled FORTIFY_SOURCE on Android x86 and MIPS and fortified strchr(), strrchr(), strlen(), and umask() calls. This can detect potential memory corruption vulnerabilities or unterminated string constants.
  • Relocation protections. Enabled read only relocations (relro) for statically linked executables and removed all text relocations in Android code. This provides defense in depth against potential memory corruption vulnerabilities.
  • Improved EntropyMixer. EntropyMixer now writes entropy at shutdown or reboot, in addition to periodic mixing. This allows retention of all entropy generated while devices are powered on, and is especially useful for devices that are rebooted immediately after provisioning.
  • Security fixes. Android 4.3 also includes fixes for Android-specific vulnerabilities. Information about these vulnerabilities has been provided to Open Handset Alliance members and fixes are available in Android Open Source Project. To improve security, some devices with earlier versions of Android may also include these fixes.

Android provides a multi-layered security model described in the Android Security Overview. Each update to Android includes dozens of security enhancements to protect users. The following are some of the security enhancements introduced in Android 4.2:

  • App verification: Users can choose to enable Verify Apps and have apps screened by an app verifier, prior to installation. App verification can alert the user if they try to install an app that might be harmful; if an app is especially bad, it can block installation.
  • More control of premium SMS: Android provides a notification if an app attempts to send SMS to a short code that uses premium services that might cause additional charges. The user can choose whether to allow the app to send the message or block it.
  • Always-on VPN: VPN can be configured so that apps won't have access to the network until a VPN connection is established. This prevents apps from sending data across other networks.
  • Certificate pinning: The Android core libraries now support certificate pinning. Pinned domains receive a certificate validation failure if the certificate doesn't chain to a set of expected certificates. This protects against possible compromise of certificate authorities.
  • Improved display of Android permissions: Permissions are organized into groups that are more easily understood by users. During review of the permissions, the user can click on the permission to see more detailed information about the permission.
  • installd hardening: The installd daemon does not run as the root user, reducing potential attack surface for root privilege escalation.
  • init script hardening: init scripts now apply O_NOFOLLOW semantics to prevent symlink related attacks.
  • FORTIFY_SOURCE: Android now implements FORTIFY_SOURCE. This is used by system libraries and apps to prevent memory corruption.
  • ContentProvider default configuration: Apps that target API level 17 have export set to false by default for each Content Provider, reducing default attack surface for apps.
  • Cryptography: Modified the default implementations of SecureRandom and Cipher.RSA to use OpenSSL. Added SSL Socket support for TLSv1.1 and TLSv1.2 using OpenSSL 1.0.1
  • Security fixes: Upgraded open source libraries with security fixes include WebKit, libpng, OpenSSL, and LibXML. Android 4.2 also includes fixes for Android-specific vulnerabilities. Information about these vulnerabilities has been provided to Open Handset Alliance members and fixes are available in Android Open Source Project. To improve security, some devices with earlier versions of Android may also include these fixes.

Android provides a multi-layered security model described in the Android Security Overview. Each update to Android includes dozens of security enhancements to protect users. The following are some of the security enhancements introduced in Android versions 1.5 through 4.1:

Android 1.5
  • ProPolice to prevent stack buffer overruns (-fstack-protector)
  • safe_iop to reduce integer overflows
  • Extensions to OpenBSD dlmalloc to prevent double free() vulnerabilities and to prevent chunk consolidation attacks. Chunk consolidation attacks are a common way to exploit heap corruption.
  • OpenBSD calloc to prevent integer overflows during memory allocation
Android 2.3
  • Format string vulnerability protections (-Wformat-security -Werror=format-security)
  • Hardware-based No eXecute (NX) to prevent code execution on the stack and heap
  • Linux mmap_min_addr to mitigate null pointer dereference privilege escalation (further enhanced in Android 4.1)
Android 4.0
Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) to randomize key locations in memory
Android 4.1
  • PIE (Position Independent Executable) support
  • Read-only relocations / immediate binding (-Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now)
  • dmesg_restrict enabled (avoid leaking kernel addresses)
  • kptr_restrict enabled (avoid leaking kernel addresses)