• Platform: Android
• Weakness: MASWE-0035
• Weakness in the numbering of the MASWE beta: MASWE-0071
• Profiles: L1 (basic security), L2 (advanced security)
• Type: dynamic, hooks, manual
• APIs: WebView, WebViewClient, shouldOverrideUrlLoading, shouldInterceptRequest, Uri, getHost, getScheme, getPath
• Knowledge: MASTG-KNOW-0018

Overview

This test dynamically analyzes the runtime behavior of WebViewClient URL interception methods to understand how the app handles URL loading in WebViews. By hooking relevant methods at runtime, you can observe:

• Which URLs are being loaded and intercepted.
• How the app validates or filters URLs.
• Whether the app implements allowlist or denylist patterns.
• What decisions the app makes when encountering different URL schemes or domains.

This complements static analysis (MASTG-TEST-0398) by providing actual runtime evidence of URL handling behavior.

Steps

1. Use MASTG-TECH-0005 to install the app.
2. Use MASTG-TECH-0043 to hook the relevant API calls.
3. Exercise the app extensively to trigger as many flows as possible and enter sensitive data wherever you can.

Observation

The output should contain:

• A list of URLs that were intercepted by shouldOverrideUrlLoading and shouldInterceptRequest.
• The return values of these methods (indicating whether the URL was allowed or blocked).
• Any URL parsing operations performed using Uri methods.

Evaluation

The test case fails if the runtime analysis shows that a URL is loaded or a resource request is served without the app validating it against trusted content.

Further Validation Required:

Using the backtraces from the hook output, inspect the code locations using MASTG-TECH-0023 to determine whether:

• The app validates the URL's host or scheme before allowing navigation or returning resource data.
• The validation logic reliably restricts navigation to trusted domains (for example, validating the full host rather than relying on a substring match).

Note that intercepting URL loading is not inherently insecure. The test fails only when the implementation does not properly restrict navigation to trusted content.

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