Demystifying Resource Management Risks in Emerging Mobile App-in-App Ecosystems

Abstract

App-in-app is a new and trending mobile computing paradigm in which native app-like software modules, called sub-apps, are hosted by popular mobile apps such as Wechat, Baidu, TikTok and Chrome, to enrich the host app's functionalities and to form an "all-in-one app"ecosystem. Sub-apps access system resources through the host, and their functionalities come close to regular mobile apps (taking photos, recording voices, banking, shopping, etc.). Less clear, however, is whether the host app, typically a third-party app, is capable of securely managing sub-apps and their access to system resources. In this paper, we report the first systematic study on the resource management in app-in-app systems. Our study reveals high-impact security flaws, which allow the adversary to stealthily escalate privilege (e.g., accessing the camera, photo gallery, microphone, etc.) or acquire sensitive data (e.g., location, passwords of Amazon, Google, etc.). To understand the impacts of those flaws, we developed an analysis tool that automatically assesses 11 popular app-in-app platforms on both Android and iOS. Our results brought to light the prevalence of the security flaws. We further discuss the lessons learned and propose mitigation strategies.