Android Application Security Testing Part-22: Android Debug Bridge (adb)

Android Debug Bridge (adb)

Android Debug Bridge (adb) is a versatile command-line tool that lets you communicate with a device. The adb command facilitates a variety of device actions, such as installing and debugging apps, and it provides access to a Unix shell that you can use to run a variety of commands on a device. It is a client-server program that includes three components:

·         A client : which sends commands. The client runs on your development machine. You can invoke a client from a command-line terminal by issuing an adb command.

·         A daemon (adb) : which runs commands on a device. The daemon runs as a background process on each device.

·         A server : which manages communication between the client and the daemon. The server runs as a background process on your development machine

ADB - Useful Commands

·         adb connect host[:port] – Connect to a device over TCP/IP. If you do not specify a port, then the default port, 5555, is used

·         adb devices – It Prints a list of all attached emulator/device instances.

·         adb install– It is used to install an apk file in to an Emulated/Connected Device

·         adb uninstall [-k] package – Remove this app package from the device. Add the -k option to keep the data and cache directories.

·         adb push – It is used to push some data from local host(local) to Emulated Device(remote).

·         adb pull – It is used to fetch some data from Emulated device(remote) to local host(local).

·         adb forward – Forwards socket connections from a specified local port to a specified remote port on the emulator/device instance.

·         adb shell – Adb provides a Unix shell that you can use to run a variety of commands on an emulator or connected device.

·         Logcat – Print log data to the screen