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APKLab: Android Reverse-Engineering Workbench for VS Code

154 points by nateb2022 1y ago

anakaine 1y ago
This looks excellent. Im very curious about the MITM component - it might be quite useful to highlight things / APIs apps are connecting to.
- nsteel 1y ago
  If you just want to see domains being connected to, then I believe most android firewall applications provide that functionality. Generally much easier to setup that MITM in Android.
- georgemcbay 1y ago
  Its always been pretty easy to insert a network configuration file into an app apk's Manifest to get it to support user installed certificates so you can route ssl connections through an ssl proxy. Its actually kind of annoying that it isn't just an OS feature (hidden behind a scary settings option that's also hidden behind being in developer mode) to enable user installed certs for any installed application. Much less annoying to debug network issues on iOS because of this and Android isn't really any more secure for it.
- MrDresden 1y ago
  In case mitmproxy[0] is unknown to you, I would recommend giving it a look if this is something you are interested in. [0] https://mitmproxy.org/ https://mitmproxy.org/
  - buildfocus 1y ago
    https://httptoolkit.com https://httptoolkit.com also worth a look if you're interested in this space: has some neat automated setup for Android MITM that can be much simpler _and_ more effective than the manual config route (with automated Frida setup on rooted devices, so it handles unpinning too!). More UI & less CLI focused, so depends which way your preferences go there.
brianhama 1y ago
This project hasn’t been updated in quite some time. Does anyone know if there’s a more active fork or something that’s replaced this?
- flexagoon 1y ago
  No fork, but APKLab is basically just a front end for a few other tools that are being updated
wiseowise 1y ago
Extremely ironic that there’s a plugin like that for VSCode, but not for Android Studio.
- bradyriddle 1y ago
  Eh, I can see how this isn't exactly the kind of functionality that Google wants in Android Studio.
  - deepsun 1y ago
    Well, no one prevents to develop and distribute plugins for IntelliJ, there's even Plugin DevKit. I bet Jetbrains would welcome it. Not sure Google could do anything there.
tamperoff 1y ago
14 year old me would love this, making custom roms on xda.

154 points by nateb2022 1y ago

This looks excellent. Im very curious about the MITM component - it might be quite useful to highlight things / APIs apps are connecting to.

nsteel 1y ago
If you just want to see domains being connected to, then I believe most android firewall applications provide that functionality. Generally much easier to setup that MITM in Android.
georgemcbay 1y ago
Its always been pretty easy to insert a network configuration file into an app apk's Manifest to get it to support user installed certificates so you can route ssl connections through an ssl proxy. Its actually kind of annoying that it isn't just an OS feature (hidden behind a scary settings option that's also hidden behind being in developer mode) to enable user installed certs for any installed application. Much less annoying to debug network issues on iOS because of this and Android isn't really any more secure for it.
MrDresden 1y ago
In case mitmproxy[0] is unknown to you, I would recommend giving it a look if this is something you are interested in. [0] https://mitmproxy.org/ https://mitmproxy.org/
- buildfocus 1y ago
  https://httptoolkit.com https://httptoolkit.com also worth a look if you're interested in this space: has some neat automated setup for Android MITM that can be much simpler _and_ more effective than the manual config route (with automated Frida setup on rooted devices, so it handles unpinning too!). More UI & less CLI focused, so depends which way your preferences go there.

brianhama 1y ago

This project hasn’t been updated in quite some time. Does anyone know if there’s a more active fork or something that’s replaced this?

flexagoon 1y ago
No fork, but APKLab is basically just a front end for a few other tools that are being updated

wiseowise 1y ago

Extremely ironic that there’s a plugin like that for VSCode, but not for Android Studio.

bradyriddle 1y ago
Eh, I can see how this isn't exactly the kind of functionality that Google wants in Android Studio.
- deepsun 1y ago
  Well, no one prevents to develop and distribute plugins for IntelliJ, there's even Plugin DevKit. I bet Jetbrains would welcome it. Not sure Google could do anything there.

tamperoff 1y ago

14 year old me would love this, making custom roms on xda.