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# Task, Back Stack and Foreground Activities A task is a collection of activities that users interact with when performing a certain job. The activities are arranged in a stack—the _**back stack**_)—in the order in which each activity is opened. The activity that is **displayed** on the screen is called a **foreground** **activity** and its **task** is called the **foreground** **task**. At a time, only **one foreground task is visible on the screen**. This is some simple activity flow: * There's only Activity 1 in the foreground. * Activity 2 is started which pushes Activity 1 to the Back Stack. Now Activity 2 is in the foreground. * Activity 3 is started which pushes both Activity 1 and 2 to the Back Stack. * Now when Activity 3 is closed. The previous activity i.e., 2 is brought automatically to the foreground. This is how task navigation works in Android. ![](<../../.gitbook/assets/image (548).png>) ## Android Multi-tasking - One Task One task is composed by several activities ![](<../../.gitbook/assets/image (549).png>) ## Android Multi-tasking - Several Tasks Android usually manages several tasks ![](<../../.gitbook/assets/image (550).png>) # Task Control Knobs ![](<../../.gitbook/assets/image (551).png>) # Task affinity attack ## Task affinity and Launch Modes **Task affinity** is an attribute that is defined in each `` tag in the `AndroidManifest.xml` file. It describes which Task an Activity prefers to join.\ By default, every activity has the same affinity as the **package** name. We'll be using this when creating our PoC app. ```markup ``` **Launch modes** allow you to define how a new instance of an activity is associated with the current task. The [`launchMode`](https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/activity-element#lmode) attribute specifies an instruction on how the activity should be launched into a task.\ There are four different **Launch Modes**: 1. standard (Default) 2. singleTop 3. **singleTask** 4. singleInstance When the launchMode is set to `singleTask`, the Android system evaluates three possibilities and one of them is the reason why our attack is possible. Here they are - * **If the Activity instance already exists**:\ Android resumes the existing instance instead of creating a new one. It means that there is at most one activity instance in the system under this mode. * **If creating a new activity instance is necessary**:\ The Activity Manager Service (AMS) selects a task to host the newly created instance by finding a “**matching**” one in all existing tasks. **An activity “matches” a task if they have the same task affinity**. This is the reason why we can **specify the same task affinity as the vulnerable app in our malware/attacker's app so it launches in their task instead of creating it's own**. * **Without finding a “matching” task**:\ The AMS creates a new task and makes the new activity instance the root activity of the newly created task. ## Attack The victim needs to have the **malicious** **app** **installed** in his device. Then, he needs to **open** **it** **before** opening the **vulnerable** **application**. Then, when the **vulnerable** application is **opened**, the **malicious** **application** will be **opened** **instead**. If this malicious application presents the **same** **login** as the vulnerable application the **user won't have any means to know that he is putting his credentials in a malicious application**. **You can find an attack implemented here:** [**https://github.com/az0mb13/Task\_Hijacking\_Strandhogg**](https://github.com/az0mb13/Task\_Hijacking\_Strandhogg) # Preventing task hijacking Setting `taskAffinity=""` can be a quick fix for this issue. The launch mode can also be set to **singleInstance** if the app does not want other activities to join tasks belonging to it. A custom **onBackPressed()** function can also be added, to override the default behaviour. # **References** * [**https://blog.dixitaditya.com/android-task-hijacking/**](https://blog.dixitaditya.com/android-task-hijacking/) * [**https://blog.takemyhand.xyz/2021/02/android-task-hijacking-with.html**](https://blog.takemyhand.xyz/2021/02/android-task-hijacking-with.html)

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