Together strong: cooperative Android app analysis

Abstract

Recent years have seen the development of numerous tools for the analysis of taint flows in Android apps. Taint analyses aim at detecting data leaks, accidentally or by purpose programmed into apps. Often, such tools specialize in the treatment of specific features impeding precise taint analysis (like reflection or inter-app communication). This multitude of tools, their specific applicability and their various combination options complicate the selection of a tool (or multiple tools) when faced with an analysis instance, even for knowledgeable users, and hence hinders the successful adoption of taint analyses.