Frida is a forceful code instruction toolkit that helps you develop, research, and reverse applications. It allows you to do this by injecting parts of JavaScript into native apps. In addition, it supplies you with tools that have been built upon its API. This API can be utilized as provided by the vendor or tweaked to meet your expectations. Frida works for Windows, Mac, GNU/Linux, iOs, and Android. Frida is one software option that can be difficult to understand, but its use can be essential to your system. Let’s go through its workings briefly.
Why is Frida Useful For You?
Consider the following situations:
- You come across an app you find interesting and would like to recreate. However, the app is only available on iOS and relies on encoded network protocols, so you are unable to complete the procedure with instruments like Wireshark. In this case, Frida can be helpful when it comes to API tracing.
- You can use Frida to build a tool with all the specified applications and characteristics you require, and the entire process can be achievable with the swift use of python. This is a much more swift process than custom-building a logging code for your client, which is a much more lengthy and expensive process.
- Another use of Frida is that it can create a Wireshark on steroids for you that can sniff out encrypted protocols. The software can even go as far as to control function calls to counterfeit network conditions. Without Frida, this would only be possible to achieve in labs.
Frida’s Installation
Installing Frida is an entirely free process; you can complete it in a few minutes. The only requirements for downloading Frida are the latest version of Python(3.x), Windows, macOS, or GNU/Linux system software. For a hassle-free installation, you should use pip. After installing the software, give it a test run to ensure that the installation is done right.
Using Frida to Find Hooks in Android Applications
The idea of using Frida to find hooks is to allow the application to make system calls, so the security instrumentation has the chance to block its essential features.
The procedure to do this for a Linux-based application is manual. You will need to complete the task yourself instead of having the software complete it. Open a file descriptor, write a buffer for it, and close it.
The application performs the functions in the procedure for a high-level API system, and you will not even know about it. The process goes as follows:
- The application opens a file descriptor.
- The application marks it as imperceptible on write.
- Wait for write, which contains the subject file. When the command is received, the application encrypts or scrambles the text and passes it to the real write function.
Frida’s Role in Hacking
Frida is an excellent tool when it comes to hacking. Until now, you would hack by decompiling the APK and restoring it to something similar to the source code. You would look for hard-coded passwords, API, or cryptographic keys, to gain access to personal information that an individual may store on a device.
With the introduction of Frida, you can now interact with the Android APK instead of decompiling it. Then, you can easily inject a code of JavaScript to bypass the security that developers would have placed to protect the apps.
Examples of such hacking through Frida include bypassing a lock screen without a password and disabling SSL so there can be an interaction between your app and the backend server.
Stalker
Stalker is the name given to Frida’s code tracing engine. To follow threads, it captures every function and instruction for you. Code can be considered a series of blocks of information. The series runs in sequence and only ends when a command is processed. Stalker works one block at a time. It allocates and relocates the memories inside the blocks as necessary. You can use stalker directly through the gum interference or the JavaScriptAPI.
You can use the stalker in two scenarios — one when you are accessing the work of a thread of interest. And secondly, when a function has been intercepted, and you want to understand how it works.
Endnote
Frida is a new software that holds immense power in the IT industry. It can make complicated and extended programs for you simple and easy. Using Frida to its maximum capacity can make many fields accessible and straightforward. Since computer science is a vigorously innovative field, there is no knowing what the next coding breakthrough will be, what will be made possible, and what areas will be more simplified.