MASTG-TEST-0089: Testing Anti-Debugging Detection

Deprecated Test

This test is deprecated and should not be used anymore. Reason: New version available in MASTG V2

Please check the following MASTG v2 tests that cover this v1 test:

• References to Debugging Detection APIs
• Runtime Use of Debugging Detection APIs

Overview

In order to test for anti-debugging detection you can try to attach a debugger to the app and see what happens.

The app should respond in some way. For example by:

• Alerting the user and asking for accepting liability.
• Preventing execution by gracefully terminating.
• Securely wiping any sensitive data stored on the device.
• Reporting to a backend server, e.g, for fraud detection.

Try to hook or reverse engineer the app using the methods from section "Anti-Debugging Detection".

Next, work on bypassing the detection and answer the following questions:

• Can the mechanisms be bypassed trivially (e.g., by hooking a single API function)?
• How difficult is identifying the detection code via static and dynamic analysis?
• Did you need to write custom code to disable the defenses? How much time did you need?
• What is your assessment of the difficulty of bypassing the mechanisms?