MITRE ATT&CKsub-technique

T1629.001 Prevent Application Removal

Published 2022-04-01 Modified 2026-05-12 Official page ↗
Domain
mobile
Tactics
Defense Evasion
Platforms
Android
Version
1.2
Created
2022-04-01

Description

Adversaries may abuse the Android device administration API to prevent the user from uninstalling a target application. In earlier versions of Android, device administrator applications needed their administration capabilities explicitly deactivated by the user before the application could be uninstalled. This was later updated so the user could deactivate and uninstall the administrator application in one step. Adversaries may also abuse the device accessibility APIs to prevent removal. This set of APIs allows the application to perform certain actions on behalf of the user and programmatically determine what is being shown on the screen. The malicious application could monitor the device screen for certain modals (e.g., the confirmation modal to uninstall an application) and inject screen input or a back button tap to close the modal. For example, Android's `performGlobalAction(int)` API could be utilized to prevent the user from removing the malicious application from the device after installation. If the user wants to uninstall the malicious application, two cases may occur, both preventing the user from removing the application. • Case 1: If the integer argument passed to the API call is `2` or `GLOBAL_ACTION_HOME`, the malicious application may direct the user to the home screen from settings screen • Case 2: If the integer argument passed to the API call is `1` or `GLOBAL_ACTION_BACK`, the malicious application may emulate the back press event

Related

Subtechnique of · MITRE ATT&CK (1)

  • T1629 Impair Defenses technique

Tactic · MITRE ATT&CK (1)

  • TA0030 Defense Evasion tactic

Referenced by MITRE ATT&CK · mitigates (3)

  • M1011 User Guidance mitigation
  • M1006 Use Recent OS Version mitigation
  • M1012 Enterprise Policy mitigation

Referenced by MITRE ATT&CK · uses (9)

  • S9004 Crocodilus software (malware)
  • S1231 GodFather software (malware)
  • S1083 Chameleon software (malware)
  • S1067 FluBot software (malware)
  • S1062 S.O.V.A. software (malware)
  • S0485 Mandrake software (malware)
  • S0422 Anubis software (malware)
  • S0406 Gustuff software (malware)
  • S0286 OBAD software (malware)

References