Most Important Tools Used During Mobile Application Pen-testing

SealCube helps in securing organizations' mobile applications by integrating advanced pen-testing approaches, methodologies, and tools. SealCube helps developers in identifying, exploiting, and mitigating vulnerabilities existing in their respective organization applications.

Below are a few of the most widely used tools that are used during pen-testing of mobile applications. (These tools are used in both android and iOS application pen-testing):

1. ADB (Android Debugging Bridge):

- ADB is a command line tool that lets users communicate with android devices. ADB command gives you to perform a wide range of device actions such as installing/uninstalling and debugging applications. This tool also provides access to the UNIX shell which helps you to run a variety of commands on an android device.

2. APK Tool:

- This tool is used to perform reverse engineering of third-party android applications. This can be used to decode files/content to the original form and can be rebuilt after some modifications to the decoded resources. It also makes working with the application easier as the project likes file structure and automation of some repetitive tasks like building apk, debugging apk, etc.

3. Objection:

- Objection is a run-time mobile application toolkit that was built by “Frida”. It was built to help researchers assess the security posture of the organization's mobile applications without needing jailbreak/rooted devices. This tool can be used to test both Android and iOS mobile applications.

4. Frida:

- Frida is a dynamic instrumentation tool kit that was used by developers, reverse engineers, and mobile security researchers. Frida can also be used in both android and iOS mobile applications.

5. Jadx:

- Jadx is a command line and GUI tool that is basically used for producing JAVA source code from Android Dex and .apk files. This tool is used by researchers to view the inside code of decompiled .apk files while performing reverse engineering.

6. JD GUI:

- JD-GUI is a standalone graphical utility tool that is used to display JAVA sources from .class files. This can be used to browse the reconstructed source code with the JD GUI for instant access to methods and fields.

7. MobSF:

- MobSF (Mobile Security Framework) is an all-in-one automated mobile pen-testing, malware analysis, and security assessment framework which is capable of performing static and dynamic analysis. MobSF is compatible with both android and iOS mobile applications.

8. Drozer:

- Drozer is used to scan for security vulnerabilities in an android mobile application. Drozer accesses the role of a native android application and interacts with the Dalvik Virtual Machine (DVM), other applications IPC endpoints, and Operating system (OS).

9. APK Signer:

- APKsigner allows users to sign their APKs to confirm an APK’s signature will be verified successfully on all versions of the Android platform supported by those APKs.

10. QARK:

- Quick Android Review Kit (QARK) is used to look for several security vulnerabilities related to android applications, either in source code or in packaged .apk files. This tool can be used on unrooted android devices.