MITRE ATT&CKtechnique

T1541 Foreground Persistence

Published 2019-11-19 Modified 2026-05-12 Official page ↗
Domain
mobile
Tactics
Defense Evasion, Persistence
Platforms
Android
Version
2.1
Created
2019-11-19

Description

Adversaries may abuse Android's `startForeground()` API method to maintain continuous sensor access. Beginning in Android 9, idle applications running in the background no longer have access to device sensors, such as the camera, microphone, and gyroscope. Applications can retain sensor access by running in the foreground, using Android’s `startForeground()` API method. This informs the system that the user is actively interacting with the application, and it should not be killed. The only requirement to start a foreground service is showing a persistent notification to the user. Malicious applications may abuse the `startForeground()` API method to continue running in the foreground, while presenting a notification to the user pretending to be a genuine application. This would allow unhindered access to the device’s sensors, assuming permission has been previously granted. Malicious applications may also abuse the `startForeground()` API to inform the Android system that the user is actively interacting with the application, thus preventing it from being killed by the low memory killer.

Related

Tactic · MITRE ATT&CK (2)

Referenced by MITRE ATT&CK · mitigates (1)

  • M1011 User Guidance mitigation

Referenced by MITRE ATT&CK · uses (6)

  • S9005 DocSwap software (malware)
  • S1225 CherryBlos software (malware)
  • S1054 Drinik software (malware)
  • S0558 Tiktok Pro software (malware)
  • S0545 TERRACOTTA software (malware)
  • S0485 Mandrake software (malware)

References