SaTC: CORE: Small: Collaborative: Enabling Precise and Automated Insecurity Analysis of Middleware on Mobile Platforms

SaTC：核心：小型：协作：实现移动平台上中间件的精确和自动不安全分析

• 批准号: 1815045
• 负责人: Qiang Zeng
• 金额: $ 16.67万
• 依托单位: Temple University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-10-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1815045&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SaTC; CORE; Small; Collaborative; Enabling

During the past decade, middleware on mobile platforms (such as the Application Framework in Android and the Core Services layer in iOS) has been flourishing, but the insecurity analysis of such middleware has been lagging behind. For example, while comprehensive studies have been conducted at the application layer of the Android system, there is very limited work analyzing the Android Application Framework (Android Framework, for short), a middleware layer in the Android system. The two billion Android mobile devices and the many Android Things devices all rely on the system services provided by Android Framework. Recently, many vulnerabilities of Android Framework are exposed, showing that Android Framework is vulnerable and exploitable. Given the critical role of Android Framework, a vulnerability in the framework can be exploited to launch large-scale cyber attacks and cause serious harms to user security and privacy. However, the insecurity analysis of Android Framework has been rather ad hoc, imprecise, and requires much manual effort, mainly because there is a severe lack of techniques and tools developed for insecurity analysis of such middleware on mobile platforms (MoMP). This research project seeks to fill the gap by developing new techniques and tools for insecurity analysis of MoMP like Android Framework and consequently lead to more secure and trustworthy computing environments for the huge number of smartphone and Internet-of-Things (IoT) device users. Educational resources developed in this project, including course modules on mobile computing security and vulnerability discovery, will be disseminated through a dedicated web site. Collaborations with the industry will be sought to transfer the technology to interested software companies and government entities that perform insecurity analysis of MoMP.The project will develop new architectural designs, algorithms and techniques for precise and automated insecurity analysis of MoMP. To make the research concrete, demonstrations will be created for the Android Framework for mobile smartphones, tablets and IoT devices, and the first platform for precise and automated insecurity analysis of Android Framework will be built, combining current software analysis techniques, such as symbolic execution, hybrid dynamic/static analysis, and cross-process and cross-layer software analysis, to make them capable of analyzing complex and large-sized MoMP like Android Framework. The platform will be evaluated and applied to discovering various types of zero-day vulnerabilities and generating proof-of-concept exploits.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

在过去的十年里，移动平台上的中间件(如Android的应用框架和iOS的核心服务层)蓬勃发展，但对这类中间件的安全性分析一直滞后。例如，虽然在Android系统的应用层已经进行了全面的研究，但分析Android系统中的中间件层Android应用框架(简称Android框架)的工作非常有限。20亿的Android移动设备和众多的Android Things设备都依赖于Android框架提供的系统服务。最近，Android框架的许多漏洞被曝光，这表明Android框架是脆弱的和可被利用的。鉴于Android框架的关键作用，该框架中的漏洞可被利用来发动大规模网络攻击，并对用户安全和隐私造成严重危害。然而，Android框架的安全性分析一直是非常临时的、不精确的，需要大量的人工工作，主要是因为严重缺乏为移动平台上的此类中间件(MOMP)的安全性分析开发的技术和工具。本研究项目旨在通过开发Android框架等用于MOMP安全性分析的新技术和工具来填补这一空白，从而为大量智能手机和物联网(IoT)设备用户带来更安全、更值得信赖的计算环境。在该项目中开发的教育资源，包括关于移动计算安全和漏洞发现的课程模块，将通过一个专门的网站传播。将寻求与业界合作，将这项技术转让给有兴趣的软件公司和政府实体，这些公司和政府实体对海洋管理计划进行不安全分析。该项目将开发新的体系结构设计、算法和技术，以便对海洋管理计划进行精确和自动化的不安全分析。为使研究具体化，将为移动智能手机、平板电脑和物联网设备创建Android框架演示，并将打造首个Android框架精确、自动化的安全分析平台，结合符号执行、动静态混合分析、跨进程和跨层软件分析等现有软件分析技术，使其能够分析像Android框架一样复杂的大型MOMP。该平台将被评估并应用于发现各种类型的零日漏洞和生成概念验证漏洞。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。