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The Play Store is a closed binary which had privileged permissions to silently install, uninstall or update APKs. The Play Services have silent permissions to b

by izacus 6y ago

The Play Store is a closed binary which had privileged permissions to silently install, uninstall or update APKs. The Play Services have silent permissions to backup and restore app data. Both of those update themselves silently. Open source doesn't protect you at all against Google.

sltkr 6y ago
The Play Store cannot update an app to a version that is not signed by the original developer. At best it can uninstall and reinstall the app with a different signing key, in which case all app data gets wiped. edit: Actually I don't even know that the App Store has permission to uninstall apps. If it doesn't, then it can only update apps that are signed with developer keys. As for backups, apps have control over which data can be backed up. Google cannot access app data if the app doesn't consent to it, assuming the Android OS itself is not somehow compromised.
- gruez 6y ago
  >edit: Actually I don't even know that the App Store has permission to uninstall apps. https://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.permission#DELETE_PACKAGES https://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.per... Skimming the permissions file shipped with opengapps suggests that play store has it. <privapp-permissions package="com.android.vending"> [...] <permission name="android.permission.DELETE_PACKAGES" />
  - sltkr 6y ago
    Thanks, I suppose that is an avenue of attack then.
  - iggldiggl 6y ago
    … not least because you can indeed uninstall apps directly from the Play Store UI.
  - Avamander 6y ago
    That also wipes the data.
gruez 6y ago
>The Play Store is a closed binary which had privileged permissions to [...] update APKs. AFAIK the OS has checks to prevent "updating" to an APK with different signature. >The Play Services have silent permissions to backup and restore app data. It looks like apps can opt out of it. https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/data/autobackup#EnablingAutoBackup https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/data/autobackup#E... It's unclear whether this is enforced by the OS or google play services.

by izacus 6y ago

sltkr 6y ago

The Play Store cannot update an app to a version that is not signed by the original developer. At best it can uninstall and reinstall the app with a different signing key, in which case all app data gets wiped. edit: Actually I don't even know that the App Store has permission to uninstall apps. If it doesn't, then it can only update apps that are signed with developer keys. As for backups, apps have control over which data can be backed up. Google cannot access app data if the app doesn't consent to it, assuming the Android OS itself is not somehow compromised.

gruez 6y ago
>edit: Actually I don't even know that the App Store has permission to uninstall apps. https://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.permission#DELETE_PACKAGES https://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.per... Skimming the permissions file shipped with opengapps suggests that play store has it. <privapp-permissions package="com.android.vending"> [...] <permission name="android.permission.DELETE_PACKAGES" />
- sltkr 6y ago
  Thanks, I suppose that is an avenue of attack then.
- iggldiggl 6y ago
  … not least because you can indeed uninstall apps directly from the Play Store UI.
- Avamander 6y ago
  That also wipes the data.

gruez 6y ago

>The Play Store is a closed binary which had privileged permissions to [...] update APKs. AFAIK the OS has checks to prevent "updating" to an APK with different signature. >The Play Services have silent permissions to backup and restore app data. It looks like apps can opt out of it. https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/data/autobackup#EnablingAutoBackup https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/data/autobackup#E... It's unclear whether this is enforced by the OS or google play services.