Call Graph Using Soot Of Android app (.apk)

Android applications do not have a single main method but multiple entry points (in xml files, in the code etc), Soot cannot directly generate a call graph of the whole application.

What we need to do it in "FlowDroid" is to generate a "dummy main" method which collects all the entry points of an application "components".

For more details about FlowDroid, look at the project here: https://github.com/secure-software-engineering/soot-infoflow-android/

The dummy main can be created like: 

 > method "private void createMainMethod()"

> SetupApplication.java.

How to Convert any Android apk file into Soot's Intermediate Representation Jimple

How to Convert any Android apk file into Soot's Intermediate Representation Jimple

Lets look at command to convert any android apk file into Jimple. 

For conversion, you need to:

> Download any .apk file

> Download android sdk from android developer site or download android jars

> Download Soot's nightly build version from Soot- Github

Before applied command, you need to know right path for android sdk -platforms directory, .apk file located directory and nightly build version of soot at right directory

Set CLASSPATH of Soot.jar or go to the directory that contains Soot.jar file then type following Command:

> java -Xmx2g -jar soot-trunk.jar soot.Main -w -allow-phantom-refs       -android-jars "D:\sdk\platform" -src-prec apk -f jimple -process-dir "C:\apkpath\example.apk"

If you have already set CLASSPATH for jar then type following

>java -Xmx2g soot.Main -w -allow-phantom-refs -android-jars "D:\sdk\platform" -src-prec apk -f jimple -process-dir "C:\apkpath\example.apk"

Details: -Xmx2g it represents memory of 2GB which is normally sufficient for any apk process.

-jar can be replaced by -cp which means CLASSPATH or it represent command prompt's current directory.

-W stands for writing

-allow-phantom-refs creates phantom classes for missing or unprocessed classes

-android-jars leads to path for android sdk or jars to process apks

-src-prec represents the file format you are trying to process

-f jimple or -f J is responsible for converting all the classes from apk into jimple files

-process-dir shows the path for processing directory or apk located directory

Soot Installation Guide - Command Line Tool

Soot Installation Guide

Download

Before you install soot your machine must have properly installed java. To install soot as command line tool you can download latest version of Jar file (Soot.Jar) or nightly build version(Soot-trunk.jar) from here. Latest version includes all other jar files so you don't need to download any other jars.

SET CLASSPATH

Before you are able to use soot you must set the classpath to various java jars and soot jar. To set jars on classpath for Windows users go to: 

Control Panel -> System -> Advance System Setting 

-> Environment Variables -> CLASSPATH

Find your Java installation folder Normally(C:\Program Files\Java\) and set following jars on classpath :

C:\Program Files\Java\jre7\lib\rt.jar;

C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_25\jre\lib\jce.jar;

C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_25\lib\tools.jar;

C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_25\lib\dt.jar;

C:\soot\soot-2.5.0.jar (This contains your Soot jar file Directory).

soot jar file directory is not necessary, you can use soot jar file directly to your command line.