Foreground Persistence

What the technique is

Adversaries may abuse Android's startForeground() API method to maintain continuous sensor access. Beginning in Android 9, idle applications running in the background no longer have access to device sensors, such as the camera, microphone, and gyroscope. Applications can retain sensor access by running in the foreground, using Android’s startForeground() API method. This informs the system that the user is actively interacting with the application, and it should not be killed. The only requirement to start a foreground service is showing a persistent notification to the user. Malicious applications may abuse the startForeground() API method to continue running in the foreground, while presenting a notification to the user pretending to be a genuine application. This would allow unhindered access to the device’s sensors, assuming permission has been previously granted. Malicious applications may also abuse the startForeground() API to inform the Android system that the user is actively interacting with the application, thus preventing it from being killed by the low memory killer.

What MITRE says you would watch

• AN1711

  The defender correlates foreground service start or promotion activity with persistent-notification presentation, long-lived application execution, and continued access to while-in-use sensors or network activity outside expected user-driven context. The analytic looks for an application invoking foreground service APIs, sustaining a foreground state longer than expected for its declared role, and retaining camera, microphone, location, or other sensor access while the device is locked, the app lacks recent interaction, or the notification identity/function does not match the application’s behavior.