aeondave/mobile-ctf

Mobile CTF

Solve mobile CTF challenges by classifying the artifact type first, then choosing the narrowest extraction path before escalating to dynamic or native analysis.

When this skill applies

• Artifact is an APK, AAB, IPA, .ab (Android backup), DEX file, or mobile game binary.
• Challenge asks to find a flag, key, secret, PIN, or hidden data from a mobile app or device backup.
• Artifact contains images, SQLite databases, or SharedPreferences with embedded or encoded flag content.

Operating model

1. Classify artifact: APK | Android backup (.ab) | IPA | Unity game
2. Quick-win attempt: strings + grep flag{ on raw artifact
3. Static analysis path per artifact type
4. If flag not found: dynamic analysis (Frida/objection) or native reversing
5. Validate and submit

Always try strings <file> | grep -i "flag{" first. Saves time on ~30% of challenges.

Technique integration

• reversing-technique for obfuscated native .so libraries, IL2CPP dumps, or complex custom crypto.
• mobile-technique for dynamic instrumentation details, SSL pinning bypass, and runtime hooking.
• forensic-technique if the artifact is a full device image or PCAP from a mobile session.

---

Artifact type 1 — APK / AAB static analysis

Quick triage

# 1. Strings grep (fast — catches plaintext flags immediately)
strings target.apk | grep -i "flag{"

# 2. Unzip and inspect structure
unzip -o target.apk -d apk_out/
find apk_out/ -type f | grep -v META-INF | sort

# Key files to check immediately:
#   apk_out/classes*.dex       — Java bytecode (decompile with jadx)
#   apk_out/lib/               — native .so libraries
#   apk_out/assets/            — bundled files (images, data, configs)
#   apk_out/res/               — resources (strings.xml, layout XMLs)
#   apk_out/AndroidManifest.xml — decoded manifest

jadx decompilation

# Install jadx: https://github.com/skylot/jadx/releases
jadx -d jadx_out/ target.apk

# Grep for flag and common patterns
grep -r "flag{" jadx_out/
grep -r "SecretKeySpec\|AES\|cipher\|encrypt\|decrypt\|base64\|sha\|md5" jadx_out/ | grep -v "^Binary"

# Find main activity entry point
cat jadx_out/resources/AndroidManifest.xml | grep -i "MAIN\|LAUNCHER" -B2

Hardcoded crypto (most common easy/medium pattern)

When strings or jadx shows SecretKeySpec, Cipher.getInstance, or a suspicious short string near crypto imports:

# Find the key and algorithm in DEX strings
strings apk_out/classes.dex | grep -E "^[A-Za-z0-9+/]{8,32}$" | head -20
# Look for: AES key (16/24/32 chars), IV (16 chars), mode string (AES/ECB/PKCS5Padding)

# Decrypt with Python once key/IV/ciphertext found
python3 - <<'EOF'
from Crypto.Cipher import AES
import base64

key = b'<key_from_apk>'           # exact bytes from hardcoded string
ct  = base64.b64decode('<b64_ct>') # ciphertext found in app
iv  = b'\x00'*16                   # ECB has no IV; CBC: extract IV from app

# AES-ECB (most common in easy CTF challenges)
cipher = AES.new(key, AES.MODE_ECB)
pt = cipher.decrypt(ct)
# Strip PKCS7 padding (last byte = pad length, 1..blocksize)
pad = pt[-1]
print(pt[:-pad] if 1 <= pad <= 16 else pt)

# AES-CBC
# cipher = AES.new(key, AES.MODE_CBC, iv=iv)
# pt = cipher.decrypt(ct)
EOF

Asset and resource analysis

# Check assets for unusual files (large images, non-standard files)
ls -lh apk_out/assets/
find apk_out/assets/ -type f | xargs file

# Stego on asset images
zsteg apk_out/assets/suspicious.png    # LSB stego (PNG/BMP)
steghide info apk_out/assets/suspicious.jpg  # JPEG stego (needs passphrase)
strings apk_out/assets/suspicious.png | grep -iE 'flag\{|ctf\{'
# Check data after EOF marker
python3 -c "
data=open('apk_out/assets/suspicious.png','rb').read()
eof=data.rfind(b'\\x89PNG')
print(repr(data[-200:]))  # check tail for appended data
"

# strings.xml — often contains hardcoded values
cat jadx_out/resources/res/values/strings.xml | grep -i "key\|secret\|flag\|token\|pass"

Firebase and remote config leaks

# Google Services config — Firebase API key, project ID
cat apk_out/google-services.json 2>/dev/null

# Firebase Realtime Database (default rules often public)
# URL pattern: https://<project-id>.firebaseio.com/.json
curl "https://<project-id-from-config>.firebaseio.com/.json"

---

Artifact type 2 — Android backup (.ab)

Android backups contain app data, shared storage, and sometimes sensitive files.

Extraction

# Read and validate header
python3 -c "
with open('backup.ab','rb') as f: print(repr(f.read(60)))
"
# Expected: b'ANDROID BACKUP\n<version>\n<compressed>\n<encryption>\n'
# Header size = length of that ASCII block (often 24 bytes, count manually)

# Extract: header is variable length — skip 4 newline-terminated fields, then zlib-decompress
python3 - <<'PY'
import zlib, pathlib
raw = pathlib.Path('backup.ab').read_bytes()
p = 0
for _ in range(4):
    p = raw.index(b'\n', p) + 1
pathlib.Path('backup.tar').write_bytes(zlib.decompress(raw[p:]))
PY
tar xf backup.tar -C extracted/

# List all non-manifest files
find extracted/ -type f | grep -v "_manifest" | sort

Triage after extraction

# 1. Grep everything for the flag
grep -r "flag{" extracted/ 2>/dev/null

# 2. Binary search (flag might be in SQLite or binary files)
python3 -c "
import os, re
for root, _, files in os.walk('extracted/'):
    for f in files:
        p = os.path.join(root, f)
        try:
            d = open(p,'rb').read()
            m = re.findall(rb'(?:flag|ctf|HTB|THM)\{[^}]{1,60}\}', d)
            if m: print(p, m)
        except: pass
"

# 3. Visual inspection of images — check ALL images, including Photos/
# Flag may be PRINTED ON A DOCUMENT photographed by the device owner
# View each with an image viewer or multimodal LLM — "Easy leaks" style
find extracted/ -name "*.jpg" -o -name "*.png" | sort

# 4. SQLite databases
for db in $(find extracted/ -name "*.db" | grep -v shm | grep -v wal); do
    python3 -c "
import sqlite3, sys
c = sqlite3.connect(sys.argv[1])
for t in c.execute(\"SELECT name FROM sqlite_master WHERE type='table'\").fetchall():
    rows = c.execute(f'SELECT * FROM \"{t[0]}\" LIMIT 5').fetchall()
    if rows: print(sys.argv[1], t[0], rows[:3])
" "$db" 2>/dev/null
done

# 5. SharedPreferences XML
find extracted/ -name "*.xml" | xargs grep -l "." | xargs cat 2>/dev/null

Key backup paths to check

| Path | Content | |------|---------| | extracted/apps/<package>/sp/*.xml | SharedPreferences — app settings, tokens | | extracted/apps/<package>/db/*.db | App databases | | extracted/shared/0/Pictures/ | Device camera roll — may show documents | | extracted/shared/0/DCIM/ | Camera photos | | extracted/shared/0/Download/ | Downloaded files |

---

Artifact type 3 — Unity / IL2CPP APK

Arno-style: Unity game with libil2cpp.so. The game logic (C# code) is compiled into native ARM binary — jadx shows only Unity wrapper stubs.

# Confirm IL2CPP: look for these .so files
ls apk_out/lib/arm64-v8a/
# libil2cpp.so   → compiled C# game code (all classes, methods, strings)
# libgame.so     → optional additional native code
# global-metadata.dat in assets/ → type/method metadata for IL2CPP

# Extract metadata
find apk_out/assets/ -name "*.dat" -o -name "global-metadata*"

# Il2CppDumper — recovers class/method names from IL2CPP binary
git clone https://github.com/Perfare/Il2CppDumper
# Run: Il2CppDumper libil2cpp.so global-metadata.dat output/
# Produces: dump.cs (C# class stubs with all method names and field offsets)

# Search dump.cs for flag/key
grep -i "flag\|key\|secret\|password\|htb\|cheat\|unlock" output/dump.cs -i | head -20

# strings on libil2cpp.so (may expose flag directly in read-only data)
strings apk_out/lib/arm64-v8a/libil2cpp.so | grep -i "flag{\|flag\|key"

# Ghidra: load libil2cpp.so with Il2CppDumper output for guided reversing
# → reversing-technique for full binary analysis

---

Artifact type 4 — iOS IPA

# IPA is a ZIP
unzip -o target.ipa -d ipa_out/
find ipa_out/Payload/ -type f | sort

# Main binary: ipa_out/Payload/<AppName>.app/<AppName>
file ipa_out/Payload/AppName.app/AppName   # Mach-O universal binary or ARM64

# Quick flag search
strings ipa_out/Payload/AppName.app/AppName | grep -i "flag{"
grep -r "flag{" ipa_out/ 2>/dev/null

# If App Store encrypted: frida-ios-dump or bfinject on real device
# → mobile-technique for dynamic analysis

---

Dynamic analysis (when static fails)

Use when: flag is constructed at runtime, key is derived (not hardcoded), or logic is obfuscated.

# Frida — hook the decryption function and capture plaintext
# frida-tools 12+ spawns and auto-resumes; do NOT pass --no-pause (deprecated)
frida -U -f <package_name> -l hook_crypto.js

# Generic crypto hook (catches AES/DES decryption output):
# See mobile-technique for full Frida script patterns

# Objection — rapid assessment
objection -g <package_name> explore
# android sslpinning disable
# android hooking watch class com.example.CryptoClass

---

Quick pivots by symptom

| Symptom | Action | |---------|--------| | strings finds flag{ in APK | Done — submit | | SecretKeySpec + short string in dex | AES hardcoded key → decrypt with Python | | Large image in assets/ | Stego → zsteg / visual inspection | | .ab file, photos in extracted backup | View ALL photos — flag may be on photographed document | | libil2cpp.so + global-metadata.dat | Unity/IL2CPP → Il2CppDumper | | Firebase config in APK | Check Realtime DB public endpoint | | Multi-dex, no obvious strings | jadx + grep → Frida if static fails | | Native .so with JNI_ exports | reversing-technique for binary analysis |

Resources

• references/android-backup-forensics.md — Full .ab extraction workflow, header format variants, SQLite triage, photo inspection patterns.
• references/apk-crypto-patterns.md — AES/DES/RSA hardcoded key patterns, SecretKeySpec extraction, common CTF crypto idioms, Python decrypt templates.
• references/ios-ipa-triage.md — Load for IPA/.app/Mach-O artifacts: bundle structure, plist/keychain/SQLite extraction, Mach-O static analysis, FairPlay decryption, and Frida/objection dynamic recovery.