Runtime Verification and Enforcement for Android Applications with RV-Droid

RV-Droid is an implemented framework dedicated to runtime verification (RV) and runtime enforcement (RE) of Android applications. RV-Droid consists of an Android application that interacts closely with a cloud. Running RV-Droid on their devices, users can select targeted Android applications from Google Play (or a dedicated repository) and a property. The cloud hosts thirdparty RV tools that are used to synthesize AspectJ aspects from the property. According to the chosen RV tool and the specification, some appropriate monitoring code, the original application and the instrumentation aspect are woven together. Weaving can occur either on the user’s device or in the dedicated cloud. The woven application is then retrieved and executed on the user’s device and the property is runtime verified. RV-Droid is generic and currently works with two existing runtime verification frameworks for (pure) Java programs: with JavaMOP and (partially) with RuleR. RV-Droid does not require any modification to the Android kernel and targeted applications can be retrieved off-the-shelf. We carried out several experiments that demonstrated the effectiveness of RV-Droid on monitoring (security) properties.