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Given that rooting an Android phone frequently involves turning off security features (for example, rooting a Nexus device entails unlocking the bootloader to a

Given that rooting an Android phone frequently involves turning off security features (for example, rooting a Nexus device entails unlocking the bootloader to accept an unsigned boot image), you're probably better off running a stock, unrooted firmware to make it easier to tell if things have been modified. That's in addition to the added attack surface that the root itself provides once the phone's up and running. Yes, the SU app on the phone (whatever that is nowadays) is supposed to prompt for permission before granting an app root access, but are you sure that code's bug free? Or free of intentional backdoors?

ape4 10y ago
You'd use your root access to make the changes you want. eg uninstall factory apps. Then, day-to-day, run as a non-privileged user.
ThatGeoGuy 10y ago
Not that I disagree with what you've outlined, but to play devil's advocate: Some security settings that pertain particularly to Android devices only (such as ADB, internal SSH server) can only be disabled if you use apps that require root [0]. Maybe if you assume you have a targeted attacker, and they have physical access, root seems like a very bad target. If you install malware that gains root access, doubly so. But if the user is intelligent enough to not install random, non-vetted apps, and to turn auto-updates off, then rooting may actually provide a security benefit here, because you can at least avoid blind network attacks. I'll also say that if you choose to unroot after using SecDroid [0], then you may find it difficult if not impossible to root the phone again, as you won't be able to use ADB anymore. In any case, there's a lot of vulnerabilities in mobile phones, and you really have to pick and choose to see which ones you think will most likely affect you. [0] https://github.com/x942/secdroid https://github.com/x942/secdroid
jalami 10y ago
You are correct, but you can still get around some of the warts involved if you want. You can always lock the bootloader again after installing your ROM. Unlocking it will wipe the device again which is inconvenient for ROM updates etc, but if you're a trooper, you can do it. This inconvenience was pretty easily fixed with the open source bootunlocker[0] apk which allowed to you unlock and relock the bootloader once in rooted userspace, but sadly it doesn't work on anything newer than the original Nexus 5 due to security features in newer Android hardware. Manual unlocking, re-installation and boot re-locking is still possible. The decryption password can be beefed up with adb from the terminal as well. There isn't a pretty gui for it, but that way you can get a strong safe encryption password and a short screen unlock pin. Unfortunately the two are tied iirc normally. Some would argue that having an organically strong password is safer than allowing the hardware to help beef up weak pins. I'm sure there are other problems, sadly Google seems to look at privacy and security on Android as issues for later. And running anything besides a nexus device is entirely less safe due to the toxic OEM/Google update environment. [0] https://code.google.com/p/boot-unlocker-gnex/ https://code.google.com/p/boot-unlocker-gnex/

ape4 10y ago

You'd use your root access to make the changes you want. eg uninstall factory apps. Then, day-to-day, run as a non-privileged user.

ThatGeoGuy 10y ago

Not that I disagree with what you've outlined, but to play devil's advocate: Some security settings that pertain particularly to Android devices only (such as ADB, internal SSH server) can only be disabled if you use apps that require root [0]. Maybe if you assume you have a targeted attacker, and they have physical access, root seems like a very bad target. If you install malware that gains root access, doubly so. But if the user is intelligent enough to not install random, non-vetted apps, and to turn auto-updates off, then rooting may actually provide a security benefit here, because you can at least avoid blind network attacks. I'll also say that if you choose to unroot after using SecDroid [0], then you may find it difficult if not impossible to root the phone again, as you won't be able to use ADB anymore. In any case, there's a lot of vulnerabilities in mobile phones, and you really have to pick and choose to see which ones you think will most likely affect you. [0] https://github.com/x942/secdroid https://github.com/x942/secdroid

jalami 10y ago

You are correct, but you can still get around some of the warts involved if you want. You can always lock the bootloader again after installing your ROM. Unlocking it will wipe the device again which is inconvenient for ROM updates etc, but if you're a trooper, you can do it. This inconvenience was pretty easily fixed with the open source bootunlocker[0] apk which allowed to you unlock and relock the bootloader once in rooted userspace, but sadly it doesn't work on anything newer than the original Nexus 5 due to security features in newer Android hardware. Manual unlocking, re-installation and boot re-locking is still possible. The decryption password can be beefed up with adb from the terminal as well. There isn't a pretty gui for it, but that way you can get a strong safe encryption password and a short screen unlock pin. Unfortunately the two are tied iirc normally. Some would argue that having an organically strong password is safer than allowing the hardware to help beef up weak pins. I'm sure there are other problems, sadly Google seems to look at privacy and security on Android as issues for later. And running anything besides a nexus device is entirely less safe due to the toxic OEM/Google update environment. [0] https://code.google.com/p/boot-unlocker-gnex/ https://code.google.com/p/boot-unlocker-gnex/