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the fact that my Android app can read log statements of other apps is also helping creating this security hole. Sandbox each app I would say!

by dirkdk 14y ago

huggyface 14y ago
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.permission.html#READ_LOGS http://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.perm... This was a similar issue with the CarrierIQ thing. Apps have to explicitly request this permission, and it's a strange one that should raise red flags unless it is explicitly intended for such a purpose. Indeed, the app that the author links to - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nolanlawson.logcat&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nolanlawso... - under permission there's the READ SYSTEM LOGS. Sadly a ridiculous number of apps demand it for questionable reasons (for instance https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sirma.mobile.bible.android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sirma.mobi... -> Why does a Bible need to read from system logs?)
- fpgeek 14y ago
  The Bible app is particularly strange because they explain some of the other permissions they use, but not why they need access to system log data.
  - joelhaasnoot 14y ago
    There are more apps out there that use this permission to submit crash reports and logs to the developer for debugging. The Bible app probably has a large enough scale, high adoption rate, and enough moving parts to make for a bad app if they didn't get that feedback. Edit: Have this app, contributed some translations. This app is pretty popular across many countries and locales, meaning the crash reports are essential for good user experience.
    - fpgeek 14y ago
      Yeah, that's something that should be fixed in Android, IMO. You shouldn't need system log permissions to capture a crash report - the OS should give you a standard way to say "I want crash reports" (might be as simple as an email address to send to). After a crash, the user should be given a dialog from the system (not the app) about whether or not they want to send the crash report data. I thought I'd seen something like that in the past, but it might have only been for system apps or something.
      - tesseract 14y ago
        In some kinds of apps there can be issues that are not necessarily crashes, but where a log from the user's system is still helpful in diagnosis. Perhaps the answer is to make an app's own log and relevant system logs - but not the logs of other apps - available to that app.
        fpgeek 14y ago
        Good point, though the more I think about it the issues are tricky. Access to the app's own log seems like a reasonable convenience (since the app could have recorded that anyway). On the other hand, there are cases I can see (e.g. confidential documents in a word processor) where you don't want the app developer to have access to everything you do with the app (which is what giving access to the app's own log can easily turn into). The nice thing about the crash reporter case is that even if the crash report is ready-to-go the user still gets to decide whether or not to send it, so they still have direct control. Perhaps the right line would be an "own log" permission.
      - huggyface 14y ago
        You are absolutely correct: Google already provides substantial crash details if you opt in, including all system log entries from your own app.

the fact that my Android app can read log statements of other apps is also helping creating this security hole. Sandbox each app I would say!

by dirkdk 14y ago

the fact that my Android app can read log statements of other apps is also helping creating this security hole. Sandbox each app I would say!

huggyface 14y ago

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.permission.html#READ_LOGS http://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.perm... This was a similar issue with the CarrierIQ thing. Apps have to explicitly request this permission, and it's a strange one that should raise red flags unless it is explicitly intended for such a purpose. Indeed, the app that the author links to - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nolanlawson.logcat&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nolanlawso... - under permission there's the READ SYSTEM LOGS. Sadly a ridiculous number of apps demand it for questionable reasons (for instance https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sirma.mobile.bible.android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sirma.mobi... -> Why does a Bible need to read from system logs?)

fpgeek 14y ago
The Bible app is particularly strange because they explain some of the other permissions they use, but not why they need access to system log data.
- joelhaasnoot 14y ago
  There are more apps out there that use this permission to submit crash reports and logs to the developer for debugging. The Bible app probably has a large enough scale, high adoption rate, and enough moving parts to make for a bad app if they didn't get that feedback. Edit: Have this app, contributed some translations. This app is pretty popular across many countries and locales, meaning the crash reports are essential for good user experience.
  - fpgeek 14y ago
    Yeah, that's something that should be fixed in Android, IMO. You shouldn't need system log permissions to capture a crash report - the OS should give you a standard way to say "I want crash reports" (might be as simple as an email address to send to). After a crash, the user should be given a dialog from the system (not the app) about whether or not they want to send the crash report data. I thought I'd seen something like that in the past, but it might have only been for system apps or something.
    - tesseract 14y ago
      In some kinds of apps there can be issues that are not necessarily crashes, but where a log from the user's system is still helpful in diagnosis. Perhaps the answer is to make an app's own log and relevant system logs - but not the logs of other apps - available to that app.
      - fpgeek 14y ago
        Good point, though the more I think about it the issues are tricky. Access to the app's own log seems like a reasonable convenience (since the app could have recorded that anyway). On the other hand, there are cases I can see (e.g. confidential documents in a word processor) where you don't want the app developer to have access to everything you do with the app (which is what giving access to the app's own log can easily turn into). The nice thing about the crash reporter case is that even if the crash report is ready-to-go the user still gets to decide whether or not to send it, so they still have direct control. Perhaps the right line would be an "own log" permission.
    - huggyface 14y ago
      You are absolutely correct: Google already provides substantial crash details if you opt in, including all system log entries from your own app.