GSoC Ideas 2015

Proposed projects for Google Summer of Code 2015. All projects list the same possible mentors:

• Ole André Vadla Ravnås
• Karl Trygve Kalleberg

1. Make Android a first-class Frida citizen

Status: Completed (implemented by NowSecure)

Prerequisites: Vala, C

Scope:

• Package frida-server and run it as a system daemon or bundle a launcher app
• Add an Android backend for USB device discovery and port forwarding (analogous to Frida’s iOS “Fruity” backend that integrates with iTunes’ usbmuxd)
• Integrate with adb or embed adb’s core to:
  • Enumerate connected Android devices and emit hotplug events
  • Automatically forward ports as needed (eliminating manual adb forward steps)

Expected results: Android package; automatic device discovery and port forwarding.

2. Add support for Android apps running in the ART VM

Prerequisites: JavaScript, C

Scope:

• Frida supported Dalvik at the time; ART support required extending the Dalvik-specific bits
• Existing Dalvik runtime JS: https://github.com/frida/frida-gum/blob/42b69917976f43ba3ec4297046b319970dc037dd/gum/gumscript-runtime-dalvik.js
• Add ART-specific implementation while exposing a unified API
• The existing Dalvik module would become a deprecated alias until the next major release

Expected results: ART VM support with a unified API across both Dalvik and ART.

3. Port Stalker to ARM

Prerequisites: C, Assembly

Scope:

• Stalker is Frida’s code tracing engine based on dynamic recompilation; was x86-only
• ARM port would enable CryptoShark to run on mobile apps
• Reference: Anatomy of a code tracer

Expected results: Stalker able to trace code on ARM.

4. Port Stalker to ARM64

Prerequisites: C, Assembly

Scope:

• Same as ARM port, targeting 64-bit ARM architecture
• ARM64 port would enable CryptoShark on 64-bit mobile apps
• Reference: Anatomy of a code tracer

Expected results: Stalker able to trace code on ARM64.

5. Add support for spawning apps on Android: instrument from the first instruction

Status: Completed (implemented by NowSecure)

Prerequisites: Vala, C

Scope:

• Distinct from generic process spawn support (already present in Frida)
• Goal: instrument an Android app from the first instruction executed after Zygote forks to run the app

Expected results: API for spawning an Android app with instrumentation active from first instruction.

6. Package for major Linux distributions

Prerequisites: Python

Scope:

• Automate creation and publishing of packages for mainstream Linux distributions
• Packages published automatically by Frida’s buildbot

Expected results: Frida packages for major distributions, automatically published.

7. Port Frida to Windows Phone

Prerequisites: JavaScript, C, CLR

Scope:

• Frida supported Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, QNX — but not Windows Phone
• Required components:
  1. Injector to get Frida’s shared library into the target process
  2. Process spawn support
  3. JavaScript runtime that interacts with the CLR runtime dynamically (analogous to the Dalvik JS runtime)
• First two items expected to be simpler variants of the existing Windows backend

Expected results: Support for instrumenting Windows Phone apps.

8. Expose backtracer and symbol resolving API to JavaScript

Status: Completed (implemented by NowSecure)

Prerequisites: JavaScript, C

Scope:

• frida-gum had a Backtracer API and symbol resolving API not yet exposed to the JS runtime
• Symbol resolving needed adjustments for in-process injection context; Windows implementation relied on DbgHelp.dll which was not always acceptable

Expected results: Backtracer and symbol resolving API available in the JavaScript runtime.